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As the world¡¦s economy continues to globalize and be knowledge-based, the labour market has an ever-increasing thirst for experienced candidates who are highly educated and well trained. Since the economic rebound, Hong Kong¡¦s job market has been as competitive as ever, resulting in a yawning gap between the rich and the poor. For those young people who are neither well educated nor adequately trained, not only do they not benefit from an improved economy, but they also find themselves trapped in a vicious cycle of low income, on-the-job poverty and even trans-generational poverty.

      To enhance young peoples¡¦ vocational skills and job opportunities, governmental departments such as the Education Bureau, Labour Department and Social Welfare Department have since the 1990¡¦s offered a number of youth vocational training schemes. Over the years, these initiatives have been commended to be successful in helping young people acquire various working skills. Nevertheless, there remain a certain number of low-skilled and less educated young people who are left behind in the job market or have been in and out of the training programmes. This study aims to find out the barriers experienced by those young people in the labour market as well as the reasons behind their poverty and suggest ways to get them out of their present predicaments.

     In this study, ¡§Low Educational Attainments¡¨ refers to those who have a minimum educational attainment of Form 3 or below, as well as those who have completed Form 5 but scored zero in the HKCEE. ¡§Low Levels of Skill¡¨ refers to those who have no recognized professional or vocational qualifications, and those who were engaged in non-skilled occupations such as fast-food servers, those working as couriers, delivery or packing workers. ¡§Low Income¡¨ means those whose monthly incomes were below half of the median salary, which according to a consolidated household survey conducted in the fourth quarter of 2006, referred to those who earned less than $5,000 a month ¡V since the average median salary for Hong Kong citizens during that period was $10,000. On the other hand, ¡§Young People¡¨ means a target group of those aged between 15 and 24. Taking into account relevant statistics, we have a conservative estimate that there are at least 30,000 such young people in Hong Kong who can be described as less educated, low skilled and poorly paid.

     In order to understand and analyze the situations of those who are not well educated, less skilled and poorly paid and to make recommendations to the relevant authorities, we gathered data through case studies with young people and interviews with experts. We have also conducted random telephone surveys to get a glimpse of how those 15 year olds or even those older see the difficulties facing this particular group of young people.

     The case studies were conducted during the period 20th April to 16th May, 2007. We successfully interviewed 20 young people comprising 9 females and 11 males aged between 16 and 24. Among them, 11 were employed while 9 were looking for jobs or unemployed.

     In our interviews conducted during April to May 2007, nine experts including academics, legislators and representatives from employers associations, social workers and government officials shared their views on how to help young people who are trapped in the vicious cycle of insufficient educational levels, poor skills and low incomes.

     In order to get an idea of how other citizens perceived the problem, we conducted random telephone surveys between 6:00 and 10:15 p.m. from the 14th to the 18th of May, 2007. 547 Hong Kong citizens aged 15 or above were selected by random sampling and were successfully polled by interviewers over the phone. The response rate was 63.0%, with a standard error within ¡Ó2.1%.

     The major findings are as follows:

 (1)   Taking into account relevant statistics, there are more than 30,000 "three low" young people aged between 15 and 24.

 (2)   There is no agreed definition of ¡§three low¡¨ young people; most people tend to relate to them as those who have an educational attainment of below Form 3, without specific skills and with monthly incomes below $5,000.

 (3)   Case studies show that the characteristics of the ¡§three low¡¨ young people are intertwined with their parental backgrounds, personal learning abilities and self- image.

 (4)   The study found that most ¡§three low¡¨ young people had the following barriers in employment (1) job-hunting; (2) choosing a career; (3) staying on the job; (4) self-enhancement.

 (5)   Creating jobs for ¡§three low¡¨ young people as a priority: ¡§Job opportunities support¡¨ works better than handing out welfare.

 (6)   ¡§Social Enterprise¡¨ - the right way to go. It should be started effectively and public education implemented as soon as possible.

 -End-

 
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