A labour group has expressed "deep disappointment" and "strong opposition" towards the government's policy address suggestion of importing foreign care workers to Hong Kong.

While the government had cited a manpower shortage, the Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) said it believes the real reason for the shrinking labour force is low wages and poor benefits.

Chan Tang-yuen, Director of the FTU's Vocational Training and Employment Acceleration Committee, said the median wage of care workers in 2021 stood at HK$14,150, 30 percent lower than that of general employees in Hong Kong.

Given the long hours, taxing duties and low pay that workers experience, Chan said it's inaccurate to simply diagnose the care sector as having a "manpower shortage problem".

"It's not that there are jobs and there are not enough people," Chan said. "It's that the jobs are so bad that nobody wants to do it."

The FTU said the real way to attract more talent into the industry is by improving the remuneration and working conditions of local care workers.

It called on the government to increase their monthly salary to at least HK$20,000 if it wants people to stay in the sector.

It also urged authorities to consider replacing the current 12-hour, two-shift system with an eight-hour, three-shift system to help with retention.

In his maiden policy address last month, Chief Executive John Lee said he planned to launch a "special scheme" to import care workers on "an appropriate scale".

Lee promised to "safeguard local workers' priority for employment, while enhancing service quality in care homes."