Hong Kong launches new measures to safeguard employment priority for local workers under the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme

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These measures include the launch of an online complaint form, as well as a limit on employer applications to once every six months.

To safeguard employment priority for local workers, Hong Kong's Labour Department (LD) has implemented several measures under the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS), effective 17 June 2025.

To ensure that employers will not displace local employees with imported workers, the LD has launched an online complaint form on the ESLS dedicated webpage. This allows local employees to report suspected violations of ESLS requirements by their employers. On the other hand, members of the public can continue to call the dedicated hotline to lodge complaints.

For applications of ESLS that pass the initial screening and move on to the four-week local recruitment process, the LD will display the names of applicant companies when publishing the job vacancies on the Interactive Employment Service website to encourage job seekers to apply for the jobs.

After an employer has submitted an ESLS application, other application(s) submitted by the same employer within the following six months will generally not be processed, except in exceptional circumstances, such as applications for renewal of imported workers' employment contracts.

To check whether establishments employing imported workers continuously maintain the required manning ratio of two full-time local employees for every imported worker, the LD will launch a special inspection campaign, and adopt a risk-based approach that requires employers to report information regarding their full-time local employees and imported workers as well as the relevant manning ratios.

The LD will investigate any suspected violations. If substantiated, administrative sanctions will be imposed on the employers.

A Government spokesperson reiterated that under the ESLS, applicant employers must undertake local open recruitment and prioritise qualified local workers for the vacancies, offering a salary not lower than the prevailing median monthly wage of a comparable position in the market.

In parallel, employers approved to import workers are required to sign a Standard Employment Contract with the imported workers and shall pay a salary not lower than the median monthly wage of a comparable position. This aims to prevent the imported workers from becoming a source of ‘cheap labour’, which could undermine the employment opportunities of local workers.

Furthermore, the ESLS stipulates that employers cannot displace local workers with imported workers. In cases of redundancy, imported workers should be retrenched first.

The LD will continue to closely monitor the local labour market, and from time to time review the operation and implementation arrangements of the ESLS, with a view to safeguarding employment priority for local workers.

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