Only a third of Hongkongers who have moved to the UK in recent years have found full-time jobs, even though most are highly educated, according to a British university survey targeting BN(O) visa holders.

Despite coming from a strong educational background, many migrants struggled to make full use of their professional expertise after relocating, according to the online survey carried out by the University of Liverpool. The university polled 1,310 Hongkongers, most of whom had moved to the United Kingdom after the imposition of the national security law in 2020.

Only 30 per cent had found full-time jobs, while 18 per cent were working part time or as freelancers. About 18 per cent were unemployed and 15 per cent described themselves as homemakers.

The survey found 78.4 per cent of all respondents had received a tertiary education, with 30 per cent holding a master’s degree or higher academic qualifications.

Ricci Yue Pak-hong, the author of the study, said the results showed a “significant” number of migrants from the city might have had to switch from professional or managerial roles to primary industry or elementary work.

Jobs that fall under the category include unskilled or semi-skilled work such as cashiers, retail associates and goods delivery.

  • Trudge [Comrade]@lemmygrad.mlOP
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    8 months ago

    Hong Kongers with Ph.D. are working in Tesco if they’re lucky enough. The irony of handling money with a queen printed on them while crying freedom is lost on them.

    • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml
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      8 months ago

      “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, i need their labour for free”

      • Munrock@lemmygrad.ml
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        8 months ago

        “And, per thee terms of their BN(O) visa, once they’ve spent all their savings surviving here, I can send them back whence they came where their welfare will not be my problem.”

          • Munrock@lemmygrad.ml
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            8 months ago

            It’s their idea. That is what they’re doing. If HKers can’t survive on their own for 5 years, they get sent back. In those 5 years they have to pay all the taxes like a citizen but get none of the welfare benefits or services available to actual citizens.

            • Trudge [Comrade]@lemmygrad.mlOP
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              8 months ago

              Exploitation and obligation without citizenship benefits. HKers really went back to get colonized again because they loved it the first time around lol

      • QueerCommie@lemmygrad.ml
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        8 months ago

        Actually don’t send them, with globalization we can exploit you from the safety of our walled and militarized states. You can send your highly educated people though, maybe they’ll get a job, maybe they’ll join the army of surplus labor.

        • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml
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          8 months ago

          Yeah that quote was so XIX century when they had to free most slaves and had to experiment with debt trap, owing souls to company stores and such.

    • Frogmanfromlake [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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      8 months ago

      A large chunk of the world does because of the omnipresence of US media. People will watch shows on Netflix and think the US looks exactly like what they see on tv.

      It’s not just the US either. The same thing happens with people who move to Japan and are largely inspired from years of watching anime. Soft power is extremely effective.

      • redtea@lemmygrad.ml
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        8 months ago

        People … think the US looks exactly like what they see on tv.

        It does in parts, us proles just aren’t allowed in or near those bits.

      • Tankiedesantski [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        8 months ago

        s not just the US either. The same thing happens with people who move to Japan and are largely inspired from years of watching anime. Soft power is extremely effective.

        True, though the people going to America probably haven’t spent years consuming niche erotica and then get upset when their job as a pizza guy doesn’t get them constantly laid like in their pornos cultural immersion guides.

  • lorty@lemmygrad.ml
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    8 months ago

    Guess they are discovering first hand just how much the “west” actually cares about them.

  • Munrock@lemmygrad.ml
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    8 months ago

    Source please? I need to share this with the kind of people who would break out in hives reading lemmygrad

  • usernamesaredifficul [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    8 months ago

    yeah this also happens to Indians. Fucking sureal unloading lorries with a guy with an mba and a degree in industrial control systems engineering. Visa law is a fuck

    not sure I would count “homemakers” as unemployed though as that sounds like upper middle class people with stay at home wives rather than long term unemployment