A government official in Hong Kong said that several basic frontline jobs in Hong Kong's civil service would be replaced with technology as part of the city's efforts to restructure its workforce and make 2,000 positions redundant by the end of 2025.

Hong Kong's Secretary for Civil Service, Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan, told the South China Morning Post (SCMP) about the job cuts but also said that recruitment efforts targeting university graduates would continue to intensify as the government seeks to address manpower shortages in several levels of government workers.

Increasing Number of Job Vacancies

By the end of 2023, government workers numbered around 192,000, with authorities aiming to limit the number of civil service posts to 194,000 by the end of March 2025. 

To maintain the number of civil servants while simultaneously providing more public services, Yeung's bureau relied on rapid technological advances to keep up with and review its manpower needs and work procedures.

Overall, the vacancy rate across government bureaus and departments was 10.3%, or almost 20,000 job vacancies. 

She added that technology should be able to do simple jobs, making more frontline jobs unnecessary and government operations, including the public broadcaster RTHK, more cost-effective. 

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Media Jobs also Axed

Another factor explaining why RTHK job vacancies remain is the enforcement of its domestic national security law, locally called Article 23. This law allegedly required workers to take an oath of allegiance and curtailed press freedom. 

By the end of March, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) detailed that the Hong Kong offices of Radio Free Asia (RFA) had closed their physical bureau in the city because Radio Free Asia is a news outlet funded by the United States and thus, according to the law, a "foreign force."

RFA staff told RSF they might be transferred to either Washington or Taipei.

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