Chief Executive John Lee vowed to prioritise local workers in his policymaking in the second Policy Address consultation session on Sunday.

Those attending the two-hour session in a secondary school in Sha Tin urged the administration to focus on retaining local talent, rather than bringing in workers from elsewhere, to try to overcome a manpower shortage in Hong Kong.

In response to their concerns, Lee said the government's labour importation schemes are short term and would not fill all the vacancies here.

"We put a discount on the number of workers Hong Kong lacks before determining the size of the quota for imported labour," he said.

"We hope to raise the skills of local workers by enhancing training and incorporating more technical elements... Moreover, the imported workers are not 'cheap labour' because their pay is higher than the median in the market."

More than 100 people, including representatives from different districts and sectors, attended the consultation session.

The meeting covered a wide range of topics such as youth affairs, the birth rate, housing, evening economy and the stock market.

Lee said Financial Secretary Paul Chan will set up a task force to boost the liquidity of the local stock market.

"I also want the task force to start working very quickly, so that they give me recommendations so as to increase the liquidity of our stock market to strengthen our competitiveness as an international financial centre."

Chan is expected to reveal details shortly.