Employment and entrepreneurship in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

1.  Expanding the Scope for Employment and Entrepreneurship (demands of the development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area)

Improve the system of regional public employment services; establish an integrated platform for public employment services; improve policy measures to facilitate Hong Kong and Macao residents, especially students from Hong Kong and Macao graduating from Mainland schools, to live and work in the nine PRD municipalities; and expand the scope for employment and entrepreneurship for Hong Kong and Macao residents. 

Encourage Hong Kong and Macao residents who are Chinese nationals to take up positions at state enterprises/agencies on the Mainland in accordance with the law, and study the possibility of Hong Kong and Macao residents who are Chinese nationals to apply for public service positions in accordance with the law.

Establish experimental zones for entrepreneurship and employment for Hong Kong and Macao in Qianhai of Shenzhen, Nansha of Guangzhou and Hengqin of Zhuhai; allow on a trial basis enterprises and professionals that have obtained the corresponding qualifications for providing construction and related engineering consultation services in Hong Kong and Macao to provide Mainland market entities with direct services; and introduce more pilot projects and opening up measures gradually.

Support young people and micro, small, and medium enterprises from Hong Kong and Macao to realize their development potential on the Mainland; extend local entrepreneurship subsidies and support to cover eligible entrepreneurs from Hong Kong and Macao; proactively take forward the development of youth entrepreneurship and employment bases for Hong Kong and Macao, such as the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation Entrepreneurship Base, the Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneur Hub, the Nansha Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao (International) Youth Entrepreneur Hub, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao youth innovation and entrepreneurial cooperation platform in Zhongshan, the innovation and entrepreneurial bases for overseas Chinese in Jiangmen and Zengcheng, the Hong Kong-Macao youth innovation and entrepreneurial base in Dongguan Eco-Industrial Park at Songshan Lake,  and the Hong Kong-Macao youth entrepreneurial base in Zhongkai of Huizhou. 

Implement the Guangdong-Hong Kong Summer Internship Program, the Guangdong-Macao Summer Internship Program, as well as the Macao Youth for Internship and Work in Shenzhen Project, and encourage young people from Hong Kong and Macao to take up internships as well as employment in Guangdong.

Support Hong Kong in helping Hong Kong youth to start businesses or seek employment in the Greater Bay Area through means such as the Youth Development Fund.

Support Macao in developing into an exchange center for innovation and entrepreneurship for the youth from China and Lusophone countries.

Support the organization of Guangdong-Hong Kong and Guangdong-Macao Exchange Meetings and Training Programs on Labor Inspection and Law Enforcement.

2. Related measures of Guangdong province, HK SAR, and Macao SAR

Han Zhen, the Chinese Vice Premier and the head of the Construction Leading Group of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, strongly encouraged Hong Kong and Macao youth to work and start businesses in the Greater Bay Area at a meeting on March 1. The Guangdong provincial government, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and Macao Special Administrative Region will all carry out several measures to provide a better business environment.

Guangdong Province:

According to Lin Shaochun, executive Vice Governor of Guangdong province, more than 360 entrepreneurial teams of Hong Kong and Macao youths have settled in the innovation and entrepreneurship platforms in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai with a total of 4,000 employees, covering various fields such as internet technology, finance, science and technology, biology, medicine, and more. In the future, Guangdong province will support Hong Kong and Macao youth to work and start businesses through platform construction and policy support.

A youth innovation entrepreneurship base will be set up in Guangdong province and a total of 12 service platforms will be built in the Greater Bay Area for Hong Kong and Macao youth innovation and entrepreneurship.

The relevant policies and financial support policies for supporting entrepreneurial employment in Guangdong province will cover the entrepreneurship of Hong Kong and Macao youth in the Greater Bay Area. The province will provide a one-stop service for Hong Kong and Macao youth in terms of business environment, as well as industrial and commercial registration, including tax processing and bank loans. In addition, Guangdong will further study support measures for Hong Kong and Macao youth employment and entrepreneurship in the mainland, including housing, medical protection, and tax policy.

Hong Kong SAR:

The Hong Kong SAR government will integrate the resources of innovation and entrepreneurship of Hong Kong youths to build a sustainable development ecosystem with the youth innovation and entrepreneurship base in the Greater Bay Area as the core.

The Hong Kong SAR government will work with non-government organizations to provide entrepreneurial assistance, support, counseling, guidance, and incubation services for Hong Kong youth entrepreneurs in the Greater Bay Area. In addition, it will cooperate with the Guangdong provincial government to support Hong Kong entrepreneurs to develop and settle in the Greater Bay Area by establishing the Hong Kong Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship Base Alliance, as well as a one-stop publicity and compatibility platform.

Macao SAR:

The Macao SAR government attaches great importance to youth work and has introduced five measures to support Macao youths to start businesses in the Greater Bay Area.

First, implement the "Thousand Talents Program" to allow Macao youths exchange ideas and learn in the Chinese mainland, and prepare for innovation and entrepreneurship. Second, implement the youth innovation and entrepreneurship plan of youths in the Greater Bay Area. Third, the government will provide an interest-free business loan with a limit of 300,000 yuan to support youth entrepreneurship. Fourth, organize the Macao Youth Entrepreneurship Innovation Study Group to learn from the experience of innovation and entrepreneurship in the Chinese mainland. Fifth, the government has established a one-stop youth innovation and entrepreneurship platform in Zhongshan.

Promulgated measures:

(1) Starting from Jan 1, 2019, an individual who has no principal home and has resided in the Chinese mainland for an annual aggregate of 183 days or more for less than six consecutive years, shall, upon filing records with the relevant tax authorities, not be required to pay individual income tax with respect to his/her income derived from sources outside the Chinese mainland and paid by institutions or individuals outside the Chinese mainland. If an individual has resided in the Chinese mainland for an annual aggregate of 183 days or more but during which there was a single absence from the Chinese mainland for more than 30 days, the continuous years of residence with an annual aggregate of 183 days or more shall be recounted.

(2) The requirement for the people of Hong Kong and Macao to apply for employment permits for working in the Chinese mainland has been removed.

(3) Hong Kong and Macao people working in the Chinese mainland can join the Housing Provident Fund and enjoy the same treatment accorded to Chinese mainland residents in terms of base deposit, deposit ratio, processing procedures, as well as the drawing of money from the Housing Provident Fund, and the application for personal housing loans under the Housing Provident Fund.

People from Hong Kong and Macao leaving the Chinese mainland to relocate back to Hong Kong or Macao will be allowed to withdraw any remaining balance in their Housing Provident Fund accounts, thereby facilitating them to plan for the longer term and achieve personal goals.

(4) Eligible Hong Kong and Macao residents can take part in the qualification accreditation examinations for primary and secondary school teachers.

(5) The introduction of a host of talent schemes and youth development plans to facilitate Hong Kong and Macao people's development in the Greater Bay Area.