Nearly 280,000 professionals worldwide have entered Hong Kong as of Feb 28 under the special administrative region’s talent admission programs, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han disclosed on Wednesday, an influx that he said propelled the city to fourth place in a leading global talent ranking table in 2025.
Sun was responding to a Legislative Council inquiry on the city’s talent admission efforts, while citing Hong Kong’s fourth-place finish in the World Talent Ranking 2025 by the Switzerland-based International Institute for Management Development as “strong proof” that the SAR government’s “talent-grabbing” strategy is “on the right track”.
The city’s talent admission programs received nearly 600,000 applications over the past three years, according to Sun, with approvals exceeding 410,000. About 300,000 of the successful applicants hailed from the Chinese mainland, while nearly 110,000 — roughly a quarter — came from elsewhere.
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Hong Kong has unveiled many talent admission initiatives since 2022 to attract and retain outside professionals, with the introduction of the Top Talent Pass Scheme (TTPS) – a program targeting to attract individuals from professions with a high income or a bachelor’s degree from the world’s top universities.
Many of those drawn to Hong Kong bring international perspectives and strong professional expertise, Sun said. The TTPS received 150,000 applications, 120,000 of which were approved since its roll-out in December 2022, including some 38,000 graduates of the world’s top-tier universities, he added.
Sun said the fact that Chinese mainland applicants account for a high proportion under certain talent admission initiatives reflects the close economic ties between Hong Kong and the mainland and their linguistic, cultural and geographic proximity — which have fueled a two-way exchange of talent.
Joint efforts by the central and SAR governments to promote integrated development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area also contributed to the increase in application numbers, Sun added.
The SAR government will continue to champion the city’s strengths on the global stage via the Hong Kong Talent Engage, wooing international talent in a bid to establish the city as a global hub for high-caliber professionals, he said.
In a move to align workforce planning with market demands, Sun said the Labour and Welfare Bureau has begun a mid-term update of its manpower projections based on 2025 data, with findings slated for release in the fourth quarter of 2026.
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He said the forthcoming report will reflect global and local developments that have been increasingly reshaping the workplace — from economic shifts, the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence, to digitalization in business operations — and focus on their implications for the city’s manpower prospects.
The previous report, released in November 2024, was benchmarked against 2023 data and projected manpower conditions across 17 selected industries through 2028.
Sun said the 2024 projections have influenced the government’s policymaking and provided the academic sector with the foresight to design mid-term talent training plans for sectors facing manpower shortages, all to serve Hong Kong’s evolving growth needs.
He added that the government will maintain a close watch over local manpower trends through ongoing projections and follow-up surveys, ensuring it periodically recalibrates the talent list and recruitment measures in line with emerging demand.
The authorities will ramp up overseas outreach and promotional campaigns to attract and support a more diverse pool of international talent to pursue careers in Hong Kong, Sun said.
Contact the writer at wanqing@chinadailyhk.com
