Hong Kong boasts low overall unemployment, yet people from non-Chinese ethnic groups face persistent workplace barriers and, according to the 2021 census, higher joblessness. People from non-Chinese ethnic groups make up 4.1 per cent of the population (excluding foreign domestic helpers) but have long been grossly under-represented in the civil service.
As the city’s largest employer, the government has both the responsibility and opportunity to lead by example. Multi-ethnic jurisdictions such as Singapore and Canada offer useful lessons.
In Singapore, the Public Service Commission maintains merit-based selection but strives to ensure that all ethnic groups have equal access, focusing on capability rather than race, language or religion. In Canada, the Employment Equity Act mandates equitable representation of designated groups in workplaces under the federal umbrella and addresses structural barriers to recruitment and advancement.
The Hong Kong government should review Chinese language requirements across all civil service grades, ensuring these are genuinely job-based rather than functionally exclusionary filters; the 2018 reforms lowering language thresholds covered only 53 (or 13 per cent) out of more than 400 grades.
Recruitment should become more proactive through targeted outreach to universities and districts with higher concentrations of people from non-Chinese ethnic backgrounds, ensuring students and jobseekers from these communities know about civil service careers. Blind recruitment through the removal of names at the initial screening stage, alongside diverse interview panels, could counter affinity bias.