Chief Executive John Lee on Tuesday said the administration will protect the interests of local workers when introducing policies to import outside labour.

Lee was commenting on a plan to bring in workers to ease a manpower crunch in the construction and transport industries, adding that details will be announced by the middle of the year.

"We have to protect local workers. We have to protect the wages of local workers. So when we make any decision, say when we plan to import workers, their wages must not be less than the median income of that particular sector, that's the established policy," he told reporters ahead of the weekly Exco meeting.

Lee also vowed to provide more training for locals.

"We will be stepping up training for local workers. That's why we have the Employees Retraining Scheme. We have other professional training, and we will be doing more there."