Aging population has been a common problem in developed regions due to medical advanced and low fertility rate. Hong Kong is one of the regions which have been currently affected by the aging problem. The Census and Statistics Department (2012) state that “The proportion of the population aged 65 and over is projected to rise markedly, from 13% in 2011 to 30% in 2041”(¶6). The shifting of population will have enormous effects on the whole economy and the perspectives of Hong Kong. For example, increasing demand in elder’s welfare and low number of young laborers will lead to less income from tax and heavy social welfare burden. To solve the aging problem, the only way out is to increase the number of current labors. Thus, the shifting process will be hindered by increasing the population under 65 years old. And the government will have more income from laborers to support the whole welfare system. However, what is the most effective measure to increase the number of labors? To evaluate the best solution, three existing and modified solutions will be compared in the following.

The first measure to increase the number of laborers is to importing foreign laborers by immigration. In 2006, the quality migrant admission scheme has been adopted by the Hong Kong government to lure skillful and knowledgeable talents. Many famous stars have benefited from this scheme and immigrated to Hong Kong, such as Tang Wei and Li Yuan Di. Hong Kong is thus can be benefited by these famous laborers as they have raised the reputation in Hong Kong. It is suggested that we can modify the scheme to solve the aging problem. As the doorsill of the scheme is too high, there are only a few applicants and low number of successful applicants, which is far not enough to solve the aging problem. In order to increase the number of immigrants, we should lower the requirements for the applicants, from degree holder to different working class. On the other hand, the scheme in the past mainly accept application from financial aspects, many potential laborers from other aspects are not accepted. We should also recruit all-round laborers in different sectors. The modified scheme might help in increasing the number of skillful workers and lessen the adverse effect of aging problem.

The second method to be mentioned is to raising the fertility rate. We can thus increase the quantity of our future laborers. It is suggested that we should imitate the welfare policies of some advanced countries to do so, such as providing cash bonus and subsidize leave for parents. According to Wong(2013b),“In an attempt to boost the birth rate, parents are being offered subsidized leave - 12 months for a mother, 14 months for the father, available any time after the child's first birthday. They receive 60 per cent of their monthly salary, capped at 1,800”(¶6). In Singapore, the “Baby bonus” scheme has been adopted that the parents will get a cash gift over $6000. Apart from the financial subsidies, childcare center and facilities should also be included in the policies as the supplement. Apart from that, as Hong Kong has its specified housing problems that might hinder families for having babies, housing subsidies for families should also be considered. With the new birth-encouraging policies and promotion, youngsters in Hong Kong will be attracted to give birth to babies and thus the fertility rate can be raised.

Thirdly, we can adjust the retirement system in Hong Kong to maintain or increase current number of laborers. Wong (2013a) quoted that “Germany will postpone the retirement age from 65 to 67 before 2030, but will do so by one or two months a year to make it more acceptable to the public” (¶17). It is recommended that we can also extend the retirement age and hire retirees. As the living expense in Hong Kong is high, the youngsters will need to give extra financial support for their retired parents, or else the elders might seek help from the government. In order to lighten the burden of the elders, the government, and the young tax payers and help the elders to support themselves, an opportunity should be given for those retirees. They can choose to extend their retired age or get back to the workplace after retirement optionally. In order to encourage the small and medium-sized enterprises to re-hire the workers, Lee (as cited in Chong, 2012) notes that “a retired Health Department chief, said the government could take the lead by hiring retired senior officials, who currently bow out at 60”(¶14). And the government can choose to subsidize those enterprises for hiring retirees. Also, for the elders, their working performance should be evaluated before they get back to the workplace. By extending the retirement age or re- hire the retirees, the elders can support themselves and become less dependent to the government, which will lighten the effect of the aging problem.

Importing foreign labors, raising the fertility rate and adjusting the retirement system are the three solutions to increase the number laborers. But there are still some drawbacks and side-effects. To determine the best among the three solutions, we should now evaluate and analyze the impact and drawbacks it produced. The first to be considered is importing foreign laborers. Judging from the feasibility, it is hard for Hong Kong to attract skilled laborers from advanced countries such as Singapore and Europe. Because the living conditions of its counterparts are similar, Hong Kong will not be attractive for them, unless Hong Kong government provides more welfare and benefits to lure them. Then our target will only be the talents from mainland or South Asia countries such as Vietnam. Also, it is hard to guarantee that the talents will stay in Hong Kong without immigrate to other countries such as America or Canada later, unless we limit their further immigration (this limit will affect their consideration on whether immigrate to Hong Kong or not). Therefore, there are difficulties in recruiting suitable workers. As for the second method, raising the fertility rate, it is difficult for use to evaluate it effects in a short period. At the same time, more resources and money will be needed to support the policies such as constructing childcare center and providing financial support. And it is time-consuming to fix the housing problem that affecting the fertility will. For adjusting the existing retirement system, judging from its feasibility, it will be hard to reverse the concept of the employers that the ability of the elders are as well as the youngsters. And the elders might find difficulties physically.

By comparing all the three methods, I believe extending the retirement age is the most suitable and feasible method. Judging from the economic view, it takes less cost compared to other two methods. Considered the defects of the first solution, importing foreign immigrants might stir up the cultural difference controversies and the job opportunity controversies, such as the conflicts between mainland visitors and local residents. On the other hand, some of the foreign immigrants might see Hong Kong as a stepping-stone and might leave Hong Kong in the future. Considered the cons of the second solution, it takes longer time to implement and evaluate the outcome of the policies. And it is hard to deal with the interrelated social problem such as housing problem and the poverty problem, and change the concept of the local youngsters, as they might find educating babies in Hong Kong is a kind of burden and challenge.

Of course, extending the retirement age also has its defects. The elders might not have good physical strength to deal with the daily tasks. However, with a good evaluation scheme, we can still recruit suitable old-age talents to increase the number of laborers. As the scheme is a voluntary scheme, the employer can choose their workers freely and the employees can choose their working hours freely, depending on their physical abilities. Thus, more elders can support themselves without depending on the government. Compared to the other methods, it will be easier to implement to maintain the number of laborers. It can also solve the aging problem effect and old age poverty problem and help to elders to gain self-esteem at the same time.

(1383 words)

Reference List:

 

1)      Census and Statics Department, (2012, Jul 31). Hong Kong population    

projections 2012-2041.Retrieved from The Government of HKSAR website: http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/press_release/pressReleaseDetail.jsp?charsetID=1&pressRID=2990

2)      Chong, D. (2012, July 16). Retirement age will rise as workforce shrinks with an    

ageing population having fewer children. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/internationalnewspapers/docview/1024904303/13CF56AE8E2F1039E6/14?accountid=10134

3)      Wong, O. (2013a, Mar 12). Public asked for views on HK's ageing population    

advisers urge the government to reach out to young people who will bear the burden of looming financial problems. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/internationalnewspapers/docview/1315806081/13CF56AE8E2F1039E6/2?accountid=10134

4)      Wong , O. (2013b, Mar 12). retirement while Hong Kong struggles to come up   

with a solution to cope with an ageing population,  

Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/internationalnewspapers/docview/1315806074/13CF56AE8E2F1039E6/3?accountid=10134

Ageing population has been a serious social issue in Hong Kong for some years. And yet, the situation is getting worse but we still have no effective measures to tackle it. To define ageing population, it means that the distribution of the population is continuously shifting towards old age level (above 65 years old), which is a common phenomenon in developed countries. According to the Hong Kong government, the growth rate of the 65 years old above population will have 50% increases in the future decade. What is the main cause of ageing population? And which group in the society will be adversely affected?

It is believed the main cause of the ageing population is low fertility rate in the past 30 years. The social problems in Hong Kong have an interrelationship with each other. In reality, due to high expense of housing, marriage and childbearing. It is difficult for people to afford and form a family. The financial factor will directly lead to delays in marriage and childbearing. Apart from that, as most of the women in Hong Kong usually need to work to earn a living for themselves, they might find difficulties in striking balance between works and family. And some of them might choose to focus on their own career, especially those with high educational level. This will lead to spinsterhood. On the psychological grounds, the living pressure is one of the factors that affect the fertility rate. Some researches and studies indicate that over stressed people will have chance to be sterile. The above factors indicate that the social atmosphere in Hong Kong do not support family to have babies. As a result, the proportion of the elderly is much more that the young workers who are going to join the society.

But which group in the society will be strongly affected? As a youngster, I strongly believe that our prospect will be affected by the deteriorating ageing problem. Ageing problem will have two major effects on the youngsters. That is about the finance and the welfare.

In the financial aspect, I believe that the youngster will face two problems. The first is the responsibility to feed back their parents. The 2013 – 2014 budgets, addressed by Tsang Chun Wah, stated that about 5 workers below 64 years old need to afford 1 elderly in 2011; but in 2041, about 2 workers need to afford 1 elderly. As people have no or few sibling nowadays, no one can help to shoulder the responsibility to afford the living expense of their parents. (Inflation will also lead to higher living expense.) The outgoings of the youngsters will be increased. On the other hand, if the youngsters in the society cannot afford that, the elderly will have to seek for help from the government. For financial support, such as the social security assistance and the normal old age allowance. The government might have to allocate more resources to serve them fair and better. In order to support those caring policies, it is possible that the tax might be increased to maximize the income of the government. And therefore the one at the working age might have to shoulder the tax. Moreover, if the financial support from the government is not enough, some of the retirees might work again after retired, which might have effects on the job opportunities for the youngsters.

Secondly, the welfare of the youngsters might be influenced. As the government has to put a lot of emphasis on the elderly issues in order to ensure their living condition, more facilities and money will be allocated to support the elders, such as the medical care and housing. Owing to limited budget, it will be hard for government to allocate resources for the youngsters’ issues simultaneously. What if the elders and youngsters need the land (housing) at the same time? The public housing estate might be allocated for the elderly first as they have waited for long years. More conflict will be developed when allocating resources. But if youngsters have no place to live in, a viscous circle of low fertility rate will appear.

 

I lived in old Tsui Lam estate in the early 90s. I grew up and met many good neighbors there. When I was born in 1993, my mum told me that many close neighbors had come to celebrate. They gave me good wishes and precious presents. Especially, a lovely pillow was given by an old couple, and it accompanied me for a long time. 

It is just a common pillow, which has a shape of the rectangle. And the colors of the cover are mild, fancy pink and purple. There is a lovely, friendly pink bear with big, cute eyes, placed on the cover of the pillow. I can still remember the warm hearts and balloons near the bear. The pillow is quite special because of its size. It is very tiny and light since it is prepared for babies intentionally. I am one of them. 

I can still feel the touching of my pillow. I guess it is made of cotton or soft sponge as it is extremely soft. When my fingers swept the surface, I could feel the comfort, smooth fiber which was mild like silk and harmless to babies’ skin. Also, if you press and stretch it, you would know that it is so thin and fragile. Maybe the pillow is ordinary somehow. It has great meaning to me. 

Although it looks so tiny and fragile, it looked after me in many nights. When I was young, I always imagined that there would be scary monsters and ghosts in the night. Those ghosts and monsters would use their hands to catch and hurt me. Then the evil would come to me. This pillow who accompanied me for my whole childhood can give me a strong sense of security. It protected me from the horror every night. What a loyal security guard!

And she has a childish name called “Meow Meow”, named by my older sister. I usually hugged her and talked to her every time I slept. She is my very best friend and I truly love her. Sometimes, I worried that she would feel cold in winter and thus share my bedquilt with her. I did not want her to get cold as she was so important to me. Now I think the idea is very childish. Apart from that, I think she could feel my emotions and give me soundless comfort when I cried on my bed. 

But when I was 15, after I moved to the new house, I have made a wrong decision- I threw impulsively my old and dirty guard away. I soon feel regret for losing her forever because she represents my whole childhood and the precious relationship between me and my old neighbors. Now, I have moved to a new estate and have very few contacts with my new neighbors. I miss my pillow and those times playing with my neighbors. (485 words)

I lived in old Tsui Lam estate in the early 90s. I grew up there and met many good friends and neighbors there. When I was born in 1993, my mum told me that many close neighbors and friends had come to celebrate. They gave me good wishes and precious presents. There was an old couple who gave me a lovely pillow, and it accompanied me for a long time.

It is just a common pillow, which has rectangular shape . And the colors of the cover are mild, fancy pink and purple. There is a lovely, friendly pink bear with big, cute eyes on the cover of the pillow. Many warm hearts and balloons near the bear. But it is quite special because of its size. It is very tiny since it is prepared for babies intentionally, I am one of them.

I can still feel the touching of my pillow. I guess it is made of cotton or soft sponge as it is extremely soft. When my fingers swept the surface, I can feel the comfort, smooth fiber which is mild like silk and harmless to babies’ skin. Also, if you press and stretch it, you would know that it is so thin and fragile. Maybe pillow is somehow ordinary, it has great meaning to me.

Although it looks so fragile and tiny, it took care of me in many nights. When I was young, I always imagined that there would be scary monsters and ghosts in the night. Those ghosts and monsters would use their ghost hands to catch and hurt me. The pillow who accompanied me for my whole childhood can give me the sense of security. It protected me from the nightmare. What a loyal security guard!

And my guard has a childish name called “Meow Meow”, named by my older sister. I usually hug her every time I sleep. I always talk to her. She was my very best friend and I truly love her. Sometimes, I worried that she would feel cold in the winter and thus share my bedquilt with her. I did not want her to get cold because she is so important to me. Apart from that, I think she can feel my emotions and give me soundless comfort when I cried on my bed.

But when I was 15, after I moved to the new house, I have made a wrong decision- I threw my old and dirty pillow away. I soon feel regret for losing her forever as the pillow represents my childhood memory and the precious relationship between me and my old neighbors. Now, I have moved to another new estate and have very few contacts with my new neighbors. I miss those times playing with my neighbors.

I am so sure that you have watched titanic, which I think is the best movie in the world. And I fall in love with one of its character, Jack. He is a charming guy who can create beautiful drawings. Apart from Titanic, my second favorite movie is Les miserable. The characters sing from the beginning till the end. Why I talk about these two movies? The first reason is I love watching movies. It is wondrous to live in the world of imagination and I can feel the emotion of those characters. The second reason is I share the same interests with them, which are drawing and singing. In daily life, I can always relieve and find calm through these two activities.

But when I ask my friends about my talents, it is miserable that the answer won’t be either singing or drawing. And I believe that they would come to the same answer-my talent is playing piano. Chopin, Mozart and Beethoven are my friends since I was eight. And now Debussy and Bach become my friends too, though our friendship is unidirectional. To describe my music talent, I have a strange sense called absolute pitch. I can recognize the music note through listening and I can play the song which I have listened for several times (may be more) on the piano immediately. But if you ask my mum about my talents, it must be arguing with her.

Being a realistic Hong Kong citizen, I would say I want to have a well-paid job in order to support my family’s finance after graduation, and I also desire to have my own house before thirty (which is a mission impossible). Once I earn enough money, I wish to have a boat and travel around the sea alone to release my soul. But before that, I have to learn swimming.