People-centric Development
43. First of all, it is necessary to know whom and what purpose economic development is for. Hong Kong's per capita GDP reached US$49,000 last year, and the latest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has fallen to 3.9%, which look good. However, these figures do not allow us to see clearly many issues, such as unbalanced economic development and that many young people cannot fulfil their aspirations. For example, financial services accounted for 23% of GDP in 2020, but only 7% of total employment. This reflects that although people in the industry have high incomes, the beneficiaries are not broad enough. In fact, employment earnings of youths in the younger-generation with post-secondary education are generally significantly lower than those of the older-generation with similar educational attainment, indicating that the pace of economic upgrading falls short of creating sufficient high-quality jobs for young people.
44. Economic development is meant to raise the living standards of all citizens and to let all of us share the fruits of development. This is also the foundation of social harmony. As such, we must enrich industrial development, and move towards high- quality and inclusive economic growth, thereby creating more high-quality and diverse employment opportunities. This will not only benefit the citizens better, but also create conditions and provide resources to solve deep-seated problems such as housing and poverty.
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