Statistics
2017 Health Manpower Survey on Occupational Therapists
Key Findings
1. The occupational therapists covered in the 2017 Health Manpower Survey (HMS) were occupational therapists registered with the Occupational Therapists Board of Hong Kong under the Supplementary Medical Professions Ordinance (Chapter 359) as at the survey reference date - 31.3.2017.
2. The number of occupational therapists covered was 1 908.
3. Of the 1 908 occupational therapists covered, 1 022 responded to the survey, giving an overall response rate of 53.6%. Among the respondents, 947 (92.7%) were economically active*† (active) and 75 (7.3%) were economically inactive*‡ (inactive) in the local occupational therapy profession (See Chart).
4. Of the 947 active occupational therapists enumerated, 934 (98.6%) were practising in the local occupational therapy profession, ten (1.1%) were seeking jobs and three (0.3%) believed work was not available or were having temporary sickness during the 30 days before the survey.
5. The survey findings presented below were based on the 934 responding occupational therapists who were practising in the local occupational therapy profession as at 31.3.2017. The percentages presented below may not add up to 100% due to missing responses or rounding.
| (i) |
Five occupational therapists did not indicate gender. Among the remaining 929 active occupational therapists enumerated, 272 (29.3%) were male and 657 (70.7%) were female, giving an overall sex ratio (males per 100 females) of 41.4. Apart from 16 occupational therapists who did not indicate their age, the median age of the remaining 918 active occupational therapists enumerated was 38.0 years. |
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| (ii) |
Distribution by sector of the main job§ showed that 447 (47.9%) were working in the Hospital Authority, followed by 310 (33.2%) in the subvented sector, 118 (12.6%) in the private sector, 30 (3.2%) in the academic sector and 29 (3.1%) in the Government. |
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| (iii) |
Of the 934 active occupational therapists enumerated, 85.3% spent most of their working time on rehabilitation, followed by 9.9% on administration / management, 2.1% on primary health care¶, 1.9% on teaching and 0.7% on research. |
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| (iv) |
The median number of hours of work (excluding meal breaks) per week of the 934 active occupational therapists enumerated was 43.0 hours. Among them, 30 (3.2%) occupational therapists were required to undertake on-call duty (excluding normal duty), with a median number of 5.5 hours of on-call duty (excluding normal duty) per week. |
| * |
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” occupational therapists comprised all “employed” and “unemployed” occupational therapists. “Employed” occupational therapists referred to those occupational therapists practising in the occupational therapy profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, while “unemployed” occupational therapists referred to those occupational therapists who (a) were not practising in the local occupational therapy 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 occupational therapy profession during the 30 days before the survey. |
| ‡ |
“Economically inactive” occupational therapists comprised the occupational therapists who were not practising in the occupational therapy 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 occupational therapists had spent most of their working time. |
| ¶ |
Primary health care referred to the work such as health education, health promotion, etc. or the work involving patient care in the primary care setting. |
6. Among the 75 inactive occupational therapists (See Chart):
| (i) |
51 (68.0%) occupational therapists reported not practising in the occupational therapy profession in Hong Kong and not seeking job in the local occupational therapy profession during the 30 days before the survey. The reasons reported for not seeking job included: 22 (43.1%) were working in other professions, 16 (31.4%) were engaged in household duties and seven (13.7%) were retired. |
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| (ii) |
15 (20.0%) occupational therapists reported practising overseas and nine (12.0%) reported practising in the Mainland. |
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Activity Status of Occupational Therapists Covered |