The Highly-Skilled in Hong Kong: Asia’s ‘World City’

Abstract

Highly-skilled migration is a growing phenomenon with young transmigrant professionals (YTP) taking the lead in mobility for work. The Asia-Pacific is a particularly significant talent-attracting region with its global cities vying for talent. This chapter focuses on the territory of Hong Kong, where declining birthrates, talent shortages, and the desire for becoming “Asia’s World City” appear to influence policies receptive to this cadre of (preferred) migrants. This chapter continues to highlight highly-skilled migrant attracting policies as a trend within the Asia-Pacific, through the examples of Tokyo and Singapore, which are also looking to gain a competitive advantage and realize world city aspirations. A pilot study on understanding the meaning of place conducted in Hong Kong with British and American YTP is used to reveal the micro-layers of everyday life — the human dimension — providing a glimpse into opportunities and challenges of highly-skilled migration. Changing demography raises critical questions on how Asian global cities, such as Hong Kong, envisage their societies, which may require more holistic policy approaches to address evolving diversities.