Hong Kong Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong (left) and Secretary for Innovation and Technology Alfred Sit Wing-hang encourage interested enterprises and eligible graduates to join the Greater Bay Area Youth Employment Scheme, which is officially launched on Jan 8, 2020. (PHOTO/HKSAR GOVERNMENT)

Hong Kong’s government launched the Greater Bay Area Youth Employment Scheme on Friday, a program that will subsidize 2,000 graduates and companies that hire them in the nine mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, in an effort to encourage young people to build their careers there.

The program is part of broader efforts by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government to provide more development opportunities for young people in the city, especially at a time when the local employment situation remains tough for the group due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Youth unemployment in Hong Kong hit 10.9 percent in November, according to Census and Statistics Department data. The figure has stood at a double-digit level since July.

We hope that our young people can set their sights on our country, seizing the opportunities to study, work and live in the Bay Area, so as to broaden the scope for realizing their dreams.

Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, Chief Executive, Hong Kong 

ALSO READ: Young HK architects grow with Bay Area

Of the 2,000 places, around 700 are designated for innovation and technology posts. Each employee will be paid at least HK$18,000 per month.

Employers will receive a monthly subsidy of HK$10,000 for each graduate employed, for up to 18 months.

Companies with operations in Hong Kong and the Bay Area mainland cities can participate in the program.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has said that the youth unemployment rate “may remain at double-digits for some time” taking into account the city’s economy and market scale.

“On the other hand, with a population of 70 million and huge development potential, the Bay Area can provide career development opportunities for our young people,” she said in the 2020 Policy Address in November when she unveiled the program.

READ MORE: HKSAR govt welcomes tourism development plan for Bay Area

“We hope that our young people can set their sights on our country, seizing the opportunities to study, work and live in the Bay Area, so as to broaden the scope for realizing their dreams.”

Hong Kong residents who are lawfully employable in the city and graduate with a bachelor’s degree or above awarded locally or by institutions outside the city from 2019 to 2021 are eligible for the program.