Hong Kong's construction industry Research

Also, with over half of its workforce comprising of an aging population, the construction industry in Hong Kong has proven to be in dire need of a young generation professional who can cope up with the industry’s business expansion and future prospects in Hong Kong and the neighboring regions. For this reason, this paper proposes that the Hong Kong's construction industry fosters a sustainable and professional workforce and adopts a means to improve its training system to enable it to upgrade employees' skills after recruitment as a suitable strategy for addressing it manpower challenge. Introduction The Hong Kong construction industry has emerged to be a very crucial part of the region’s economic sector. As a critical sector of the economy, the construction industry in Hong Kong upholds all the construction activities of major real estates and infrastructures including new constructions, repair, and modifications of any existing structures.

Similarly, the construction industry has also played a significant role in shaping Hong Kong's employment structure. This effort has been in response to the insufficient new entrants and an aging workforce that the industry worries may not be prepared to cope up with the current expansion and anticipated growth in the construction industry (Siu, Phillips, and Leung 200). Despite the efforts, the construction industry has not yet succeeded in attracting a significant number of new and skilled young workforce due to the company’s unappealing reputation. The construction industry has been known to exhibit insecure and ambiguous workloads, lack a safe and healthy work environment, portray irregular of late payment, lack a formal contract and display a short-term workplace as well as poor working conditions (Ann et al.

Studies reveal that people who worked in the construction industry were either less-educated or had no choice; however, in reality, most of them did not want their children to work in the construction sector. Moreover, young people are unwilling to work in construction industries or even consider construction work as their preferred career because they feel the existing pay level does not justify the hard work involved (Siu, Phillips, and Leung 202). There is absolutely no need to import foreign constructors as such an action only provides a temporary solution and thus can not be considered as a major step towards attaining a sustainable workforce. The positive image of the industry can mainly be driven by the local organizations. For instance, the local construction developers and associations can create a construction career advancement map which guarantees stable incomes and benefits prospects for the trainees in the training system.

Additionally, in an attempt to attract and persuade the young generation professionals and their families, there is a need for the construction industry to enforce rigorous safety standards that guarantees safe and a healthy working environment (Hoonakker, Carayon, and Loushine 957). This initiative will encourage young and skilled professionals to join the industry. Additionally, since a substantial population of the construction industry workforce consists of an aging population, it would be wise to engage these group of highly skilled and experienced workers to act as mentors to the recruits during the training process (Hoonakker, Carayon, and Loushine 967). The new entrants would need an on-job training to help in brushing off their skills to the next level. Also, the industry should seek more funding and offer sponsorship to small and medium enterprises as a means of encouraging them to join the training and mentorship program.

By engaging the experienced workforce, skilled employees will be retained as the skill transfer experience aid more job opportunities for them (Wong, Ng, and Chan 272). Also, through trade associations, companies in the construction industry can plan for more training programs. "Impact of Construction Waste Disposal Charging Scheme on work practices at construction sites in Hong Kong. " Waste management vol. no. Chan, Andy W. , et al. "Market readiness and policy implications for green buildings: a case study from Hong Kong. " Journal of Green Building vol. no. Hoonakker, Peter, Pascale Carayon, and Todd Loushine. "Barriers and benefits of quality management in the construction industry: An empirical study. Thomas Ng, and Albert PC Chan. "Strategic planning for the sustainable development of the construction industry in Hong Kong.