MR YIU SI-WING (in Cantonese): Deputy President, the Government's introduction of successive amendments to the Employment Ordinance in recent years is definitely understandable from the public's point of view, but employers, especially those running small-, medium- and micro-enterprises ("the SMMEs"), find it hard to cope with. The Government first proposed to abolish the offsetting arrangement under the Mandatory Provident Fund ("MPF") System. Then it sought to increase the duration of paternity leave from 3 days to 5 days. Soon afterward, it proposed to extend the paid statutory maternity leave from 10 weeks to 14 weeks. It may propose legislating for standard working hours in future. Employers will be daunted by such wave after wave of new initiatives.

At present, the most controversial issue is the abolition of the offsetting arrangement under the MPF System. Although the Government has made a financial commitment of $29.3 billion for providing the second-tier subsidy and will extend its period from the originally proposed 12 years to 25 years, the business sector is of the view that the Government is trying to wash its hands of the issue in the end and shift its responsibility to employers so that it will be off the hook then. The abolition of the offsetting arrangement under the MPF System may not bring much pressure on large enterprises, but SMMEs will feel a heavy burden in the days ahead. Moreover, given the complex nature of the proposal, many companies have difficulties in computation. The need to set up designated saving accounts for this purpose will also entail additional corporate administrative expenses for them. As a result, many members of the tourism industry still have reservations about the Government's proposal.

Regarding the proposal to extend the statutory maternity leave by four weeks, at first glance, the Government's commitment to shoulder the additional salary costs will spare employers the additional costs, the extension of statutory maternity leave will make small and medium enterprises more difficult and burdensome in staff deployment in view of the general manpower shortage of these enterprises.

Deputy President, as the unemployment rate in Hong Kong remains at around 3% over a prolonged period of time, which is widely regarded as a state of full employment. Many industries are facing manpower shortage. This year's policy address points out the genuine manpower shortage and recruitment difficulties in certain sectors, however, it only mentions that the Government will help the subsidized elderly care service sector employ additional manpower and give a nod to the importation of carers from outside Hong Kong. As a matter of fact, the tourism sector also faces chronic manpower shortage for certain types of jobs, particularly the hotel industry. Some types of jobs in the hotel industry (e.g. housekeeping, catering, driving, engineering, etc.) have high turnover rates and recruitment difficulties. With the completion of an estimated over 10 000 new hotel rooms in the next two years, taking account of staff turnover, there will be a shortfall of nearly 10 000 hotel personnel. In spite of pay rises and enhanced employee benefits, the industry still failed to recruit adequate staff members. In this connection, the industry is going to commission an academic institution to conduct surveys on the hotel industry and collect relevant data for objective analyses in the hope that the public will understand the plight of the industry arising from recruitment difficulties.

The passenger transport industry also faces recruitment difficulties. According to government information, the average age of local taxi drivers is 58, while that of non-franchised buses (including tour coaches) drivers is almost 60. An "acute driver shortage" is an undisputed fact, partly contributed by the ageing problem among professional drivers and the recruitment difficulties.

Deputy President, Hong Kong International Airport ("HKIA") is one of the busiest airports in the world, which handles over 70 million passengers every year, ranking third in the world with the number of passengers still growing. The number of aircraft parking stands has increased by 20 in 2017 and will see a further increase of 20 by 2019. Nevertheless, the availability of manpower for many types of jobs at the airport still fails to meet the demand. In October last year, the Airport Authority Hong Kong briefed the Subcommittee to Follow Up Issues Relating to the Three-runway System at the Hong Kong International Airport on the outcomes of a workforce survey on HKIA and pointed out that there were still 4 500 airport vacancies in 2017. According to the estimation by a trade union of airport ground staff in August this year, the current shortfall of airport ground staff is 12%, including drivers of light and heavy goods vehicles and baggage handlers. Despite the ongoing recruitment exercise, the negative growth in the number of ground staff who reported duty remains. Instances of delayed baggage delivery due to manpower shortage occur from time to time, which will affect visitors' impression of HKIA.

The Three-runway System at HKIA is expected to commence operation in 2024, which will increase the annual passenger volume to 100 million by then. Should we not start planning for the airport's workforce, the service quality of HKIA will definitely deteriorate.

Deputy President, the long-awaited Hong Kong Section of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge have commissioned successively in recent months and the number of visitors has also increased. However, major infrastructure facilities alone without supporting services will not enhance the international image of Hong Kong. On the contrary, the travel experience of tourists and their perception of Hong Kong will be negatively affected to a great extent. I hope that the SAR Government will take the problem of manpower shortage in the tourism industry and related service industries seriously and heed the views of the industries. On the premise of protecting employment opportunities for local people, it should face the reality and boldly put forward specific proposals for importation of workers in the light of the actual situations of different sectors and the need for prioritization, in order to facilitate the healthy and sustainable development of the service industries in Hong Kong.

Deputy President, I so submit.