Hong Kong, July 30:

Hong Kong faces a shortage of professionals because surging Chinese demand for investment services will require a larger workforce than the city can offer on its own, an analyst at Mastercard Inc says. Although the territory’s unemployment rate remains high, at 5.7 per cent in the second quarter, the jobless are mostly low-skilled services sector workers. The increasing shortage of skilled professionals — particularly in the banking, finance, and consulting sectors — could restrain Hong Kong’s robust economic growth in the long run, said Yuwa Hedrick-Wong, MasterCard’s economic adviser for Asia-Pacific. “Hong Kong’s true potential will demand a much bigger professional workforce than the current level,” Hedrick-Wong said in a recent interview with Dow Jones Newswires. China’s booming market will keep Hong Kong among the fastest-growing economies in Asia, he said, adding that the city’s economy should expand by 6.6 per cent in 2005 and 6.5 percent in 2006, after rising by 8.1 per cent last year. Hong Kong’s importance as a services hub for Greater China — Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China — is growing, and that role isn’t likely to be replaced by another Chinese city for at least 20 years, Hedrick-Wong said. For MasterCard, the territory remains one of its fastest-growing markets in the region, thanks to a rebound in consumer spending. The global payment service provider projects 20 per cent year-on-year growth for the Hong Kong credit card market over the next several years.