The DAB on Tuesday called on the authorities to draw up and regularly update a list of professions in which Hong Kong doesn't have enough workers, in order to accurately reflect the city's overall employment situation.

The party said the SAR is facing a labour shortage in many sectors, such as construction and transport, and the administration needs to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

The party’s Frankie Ngan said the Labour Advisory Board should come up with a list and update it every year so that arrangements can be made to train local people or import people with the right skills.

To attract local workers to join those professions, he said, the government can also consider introducing an employment training scheme where newcomers are offered a monthly subsidy of HK$3,000 for half a year.

Meanwhile, Ngan’s party colleague, Kennedy Wong, called on officials to lift a ban on importing workers in 26 professions, including bank tellers, hairdressers and salespeople.

“I could not find the rationale behind listing out these 26 categories and I think these categories were [decided] probably more than three decades ago,” he said.

“It’s time for our government to at least review them and our present proposal is for these prohibitions to be lifted altogether, because Hong Kong is facing quite a serious labour shortage situation and I think it’s across the board.”