Tania Sibree late last year quit her well-paid job as a financial services lawyer in Hong Kong and returned to Australia rather than live a moment longer with the territory’s strict COVID-19 restrictions.
Sibree, who said she had enjoyed the previous five years in Hong Kong, is one of hundreds — possibly thousands — of foreign expatriate professionals who have left or are planning to leave, threatening to dent the territory’s standing as one of the world’s financial hubs.
“The hotel quarantine made it just so tough for people to travel and that was the big incentive to being in Hong Kong, it was close to home and my parents, but you cannot do that long in hotel quarantine with kids,” she said. “Everyone had been thinking the restrictions would be lifted, it would get better and it would not go on for so long.”
Photo: AFP
COVID-19 infections in Hong Kong are much lower than most places in the world, but the territory is following Beijing’s “zero COVID” policy.
It has had stiff quarantines in place for two years, and last year introduced some of the world’s strictest entry rules, allowing only residents to return and mandatory hotel quarantine of up to three weeks for arrivals from most countries, regardless of vaccination status, paid for by the travelers themselves.
“The summer in Hong Kong will be the time when many people will throw in the towel and think to themselves: ‘This is just untenable,’” one capital markets investment banker said, on the condition of anonymity. “As a banker right now you’re much better off being based in Singapore. You can travel, and once or twice a year you could bite the bullet and come to Hong Kong and do the quarantine if you need to.”
More than 40 percent of members surveyed by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong said that they were more likely to leave the territory, with most citing international travel restrictions as the leading factor.
“For the fastest growing sector of wealth and asset management there is a lack of trained supply of talent. If draconian travel restrictions continue for an undefined and lengthy period, the talent issue will become all the more serious,” chamber president Tara Joseph said. “Many in the industry also expect that eventually many jobs in the sector will be taken up by mainland Chinese talent, leading to a big talent shift.”
Hong Kong’s population declined 1.2 percent between mid-2020 and the middle of last year, with more than 75,000 people leaving, Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department data showed.
Since September, the territory has had five months of consecutive net outflow in travel, government immigration data showed.
Meanwhile, the total number of visa applicants from all countries under the “general employment policy” fell by one-third last year to 10,073. Applicants for the financial services sector were down 23 percent.
“The proposition of bringing people into Hong Kong is not happening,” said John Mullally, regional director for southern China and Hong Kong financial services at headhunter Robert Walters.
“The only people willing to do it are the international or very senior executives or very young people without families,” he said.
One financial analyst at a global research group who has called Hong Kong home for more than five years said that he has been waiting for the territory’s international borders to open so he can see his family and friends.
With no sign of a change, he said that he has decided to move back to the US in the second quarter.
“Basically, we need to see our families and there is no end in sight to travel restrictions, no roadmap or plan,” he said. “Eventually you quit waiting and realize moving is the only option.”
READINESS: According to a survey of 2,000 people, 86 percent of Swedes believe the country is worth defending in the event of a military attack Swedes are stocking up on food items in case of war, as more conflict in Europe no longer feels like a distant possibility, and authorities encourage measures to boost readiness. At a civil preparedness fair in southwest Stockholm, 71-year-old Sirkka Petrykowska said that she is taking the prospect of hostilities seriously and preparing as much as she can. “I have bought a camping stove. I have taken a course on preservation in an old-fashioned way, where you can preserve vegetables, meat and fruit that lasts for 30 years without a refrigerator,” Petrykowska said. “I’ve set aside blankets for warmth, I
FRUSTRATIONS: One in seven youths in China and Indonesia are unemployed, and many in the region are stuck in low-productivity jobs, the World Bank said Young people across Asia are struggling to find good jobs, with many stuck in low-productivity work that the World Bank said could strain social stability as frustrations fuel a global wave of youth-led protests. The bank highlighted a persistent gap between younger and more experienced workers across several Asian economies in a regional economic update released yesterday, noting that one in seven young people in China and Indonesia are unemployed. The share of people now vulnerable to falling into poverty is now larger than the middle class in most countries, it said. “The employment rate is generally high, but the young struggle to
ENERGY SHIFT: A report by Ember suggests it is possible for the world to wean off polluting sources of power, such as coal and gas, even as demand for electricity surges Worldwide solar and wind power generation has outpaced electricity demand this year, and for the first time on record, renewable energies combined generated more power than coal, a new analysis said. Global solar generation grew by a record 31 percent in the first half of the year, while wind generation grew 7.7 percent, according to the report by the energy think tank Ember, which was released after midnight yesterday. Solar and wind generation combined grew by more than 400 terawatt hours, which was more than the increase in overall global demand during the same period, it said. The findings suggest it is
IN THE AIR: With no compromise on the budget in sight, more air traffic controllers are calling in sick, which has led to an estimated 13,000 flight delays, the FAA said Concerns over flight delays and missed paychecks due to the US government shutdown escalated on Wednesday, as senators rejected yet another bid to end the standoff. Democrats voted for a sixth time to block a Republican stopgap funding measure to reopen government departments, keeping much of the federal workforce home or working without pay. With the shutdown in its eighth day, lines at airports were expected to grow amid increased absenteeism among security and safety staff at some of the country’s busiest hubs. Air traffic controllers — seen as “essential” public servants — are kept at work during government shutdowns, but higher numbers
RSS