His comments came after chief executive John Lee Ka-chiu outlined in his policy address on Wednesday that some 140,000 people had left the workforce in the past two years.

Speaking on a radio program this morning, Labour and Welfare Secretary Chris Sun Yuk-han defended that doesn't necessarily mean that all of these people had moved overseas, though he didn't elaborate.

However, he noted that about 88,000 of those who had left could be described as highly skilled, while more than half were aged between 25 and 39.

Sun stressed that the government attaches great importance to job opportunities for locals, but there's a need to bring in talent from elsewhere to fill the gaps and revive the economy.

"We've spoken to different sectors, almost everyone agreed they can't find talent right now. The shortage is most serious for the middle-ranking and high-ranking workers. Clearly it's very difficult to hire," Sun said, adding that the city can’t rely on the local talent base as there are not enough people.

Sun said the government aims to import some 35,000 talented individuals in each of the next three years through different schemes.

He went on and said the measures will not put locals at a disadvantage, as they have the advantage of being familiar with the place and don't need to worry about the costs of moving here.

Speaking on the same radio program, commerce chief Algernon Yau Ying-wah said a proposed move to bring in strategic enterprises from outside Hong Kong would offer more opportunities to talented local employees and help keep them in the workforce.

Yau said authorities will set up an Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises this year with a remit to encourage and help companies in high-potential sectors such as data science, artificial intelligence and financial technology to set up operations in Hong Kong.

He added that work would be completed by the end of the year so that officials will start attracting firms and talent early next year.