Statistics
2014 Health Manpower Survey on Midwives
Key Findings
1. The midwives covered in the 2014 HMS were midwives registered with the Midwives Council of Hong Kong under the Midwives Registration Ordinance (Chapter 162) as at the survey reference date - 31.8.2014 and had to renew their practising certificates in 2014.
2. The number of midwives covered was 3 968.
3. Of the 3 968 midwives covered, 2 279 responded to the survey, giving an overall response rate of 57.4%. Of the 2 279 responding midwives, 1 825 (80.1%) were economically active*† (active) whereas 454 (19.9%) reported to be economically inactive*‡ (inactive) in the local midwifery / nursing profession.
4. Of the 1 825 active midwives, 1 796 (98.4%) were practising in the local midwifery / nursing profession, 24 (1.3%) were seeking jobs, three (0.2%) had not been available for work because of temporary sickness and two (0.1%) were expecting to return to their original jobs in the local midwifery / nursing profession during the 30 days before the survey.
5. The survey findings presented below were based on the 1 796 responding midwives who were practising in the local midwifery / nursing profession as at 31.8.2014. As some questionnaires had missing responses, percentages presented below may not add up to 100%.
| (i) | Of the 1 796 active midwives enumerated, 1 669 (92.9%) were holding valid practising certificates in registered nurses and / or enrolled nurses. 105 (5.8%) were only holding valid practising certificates in midwifery. |
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| (ii) | All the 1 796 active midwives enumerated were female. 44 midwives did not indicate age and the median age of the remaining 1 752 active midwives enumerated was 51.0 years. |
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| (iii) | Distribution by sector of the main job§ showed that 1 114 (62.0%) were working in the Hospital Authority, followed by 274 (15.3%) in the Government, 271 (15.1%) in the private sector, 74 (4.1%) in the subvented sector and 60 (3.3%) in the academic sector. |
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| (iv) | 26.4% spent most of their working time on obstetrics, followed by 10.5% on public health, 10.1% on medicine, 9.2% on administration / management, 7.9% on ambulatory / outpatients, 6.9% on surgery and 6.2% on paediatrics. |
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| (v) | The median number of hours of work (excluding meal breaks) per week of the 1 796 active midwives enumerated was 42.0 hours. 116 (6.5%) midwives were required to undertake on-call duty (excluding normal duty), with a median of 22.5 hours of on-call duty (excluding normal duty) per week. |
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| (iv) | Of the 1 796 active midwives enumerated, 84.0% held Student / Pupil Nurse Training, 6.6% held Pupil Midwife Training and 4.8% held Bachelor’s Degree as their earliest basic qualifications. |
| * | In the survey, the criteria used in defining economically active / inactive followed those recommended by the International Labour Organization, which are also being used by the Census and Statistics Department in Hong Kong. |
| † | "Economically active" midwives comprised all "employed" and "unemployed" midwives. "Employed" midwives referred to those midwives practising in the midwifery / nursing profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, while "unemployed" midwives referred to those midwives who (a) were not practising in the midwifery / nursing profession during the survey period; (b) had been available for work during the seven days before the survey; and (c) had sought work in the local midwifery / nursing profession during the 30 days before the survey. |
| ‡ | "Economically inactive" midwives comprised the midwives who were not practising in the midwifery / nursing profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, but excluding those who had been on leave during the survey period and who were "economically active" but "unemployed". |
| § | Main jobs referred to the jobs in which the midwives had spent most of their working time. |
| (vii) | Of the 1 796 active midwives enumerated, 1 589 (88.5%) received / were receiving additional training. Of the 1 589 active midwives with additional training, four (0.3%) had not yet completed the additional training, 677 (42.6%) held Bachelor’s Degree, 551 (34.7%) held Master’s Degree and 160 (10.1%) held certificate as the highest qualification. |
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| (viii) | Of the 1 589 midwives who received / were receiving additional training, 790 (49.7%) were trained in one field of additional training. Among them, 30.0% were trained in midwifery, 12.7% in general nursing, 11.8% in public health nursing, 4.4% in nursing administration and 4.3% in emergency / first aid nursing. |
6. Among the 454 inactive midwives:
| (i) | 62 midwives reported practising overseas or in the Mainland. |
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| (ii) | 392 midwives reported not practising in the midwifery / nursing profession in Hong Kong and not seeking job in the local midwifery / nursing profession during the 30 days before the survey. The reasons reported for not seeking job included: 222 (56.6%) were retired, 74 (18.9%) were engaged in household duties, 50 (12.8%) wanted to take rest / had no motive to work / had no financial need and 30 (7.7%) were working in other professions, etc. |
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Activity Status of Midwives Covered |