Media

Hong Kong’s economy has been affected severely by the pandemic. The Census and Statistics Department announced in April that the unemployment rate has reached 5%. People with disabilities (PWD) are particularly hard hit with climbing unemployment rates. The pandemic places PWD in a precarious situation, bringing adverse impacts not only to their daily lives and employment, but also their physical and mental wellbeing.

The Centre for Civil Society and Governance at The University of Hong Kong (CCSG-HKU) launched the Jockey Club Collaborative Project for Inclusive Employment in December 2020. Funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the three-year project aims to raise public awareness and knowledge on inclusive employment and encourage different stakeholders to support this cause. The Diagnostic Study took place between December 2020 and January 2022 and involved extensive research including 53 in-depth interviews, 11 focus group discussions with different stakeholders, and an online survey with 2,715 Hong Kong resident respondents aged 18 or above. The Study gauged the scale and scope of issues involved, identified relevant policy frameworks and actors, and laid out the landscape and operation of current services. The Study helps provide insights for building collaboration platforms, and upcoming activities.

Based on the findings, the research team identified the challenges of inclusive employment in Hong Kong, the policy and service gaps, and provided an analysis and a series of recommendations based on five dimensions, namely i) public policy; ii) PWD education; iii) employment and training; iv) PWD employment incentives; and v) motivation for business organisations.

The research findings will be released on 13 May 2022 (Friday) at an online launch event. Representatives from different stakeholder groups will take part in the “Revisioning Inclusive Employment” Forum to share their thoughts on the research findings and furthering the discussion. The media is cordially invited to join us at this event. The details are as follows: 
 

For more details about the project, report summary, and upcoming stakeholder activities, please visit our project website and Facebook page.

For media enquiries, please contact Assistant Project Manager Ms Jacqueline Cheung (tel: 3910 2462 / 9211 0153; email: jnlc@hku.hk).