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Statistics

2021 Health Manpower Survey on Occupational Therapists
Key Findings

The occupational therapists covered in the 2021 Health Manpower Survey on Occupational Therapists (HMS-OT) 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 of 31 July 2021, and who had provided written consent on receiving information related to HMS-OT by post or email.

Among the 2 721 occupational therapists registered with the Occupational Therapists Board of Hong Kong as at the survey reference date of 31 July 2021, 779 had consented to receive information related to HMS-OT by post or email. The number of occupational therapists covered was 779.

Of the 779 occupational therapists covered, 223 responded to the HMS-OT, giving an overall response rate of 28.6% (See Chart).

Among the 223 responding occupational therapists, 202 (90.6%) were “active” *† in the local occupational therapy profession as at 31 July 2021 and 21 (9.4%) were “inactive” *‡ (See Chart).

Among the 202 active occupational therapists, 198 (98.0%) were practising in the local occupational therapy profession, two (1.0%) were seeking jobs in the occupational therapy profession, one (0.5%) reported that he / she was not available for work because of temporary sickness and one (0.5%) reported that he / she was available for work but had not sought work during the 30 days before enumeration as he / she was expecting to return to his / her original job in the local occupational therapy profession.

The survey findings presented below were based on the 198 responding occupational therapists who were practising in the local occupational therapy profession as at 31 July 2021. The percentages presented below may not add up to 100% due to missing responses or rounding (See Chart).

  1. Among the 198 active occupational therapists practising in the local occupational therapy profession enumerated, there were 56 (28.3%) male and 142 (71.7%) female, giving an overall sex ratio (males per 100 females) of 39. Excluding one respondent who did not indicate his / her age, the median age of the remaining 197 was 41.0 years (median age of female was 40.0 years and median age of male was 44.5 years).
  2. The responding active occupational therapists practising in the local occupational therapy profession were requested to indicate the characteristics of their main jobs§. Among the 198 active occupational therapists practising in the local occupational therapy profession, 78 (39.4%) reported as working in the subvented sector, 62 (31.3%) in the Hospital Authority, 35 (17.7%) in the private sector, 14 (7.1%) in the academic sector, six (3.0%) in Government and three (1.5%) did not indicate the sectors for their main jobs.
    3. * 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 (“active”) occupational therapists included: (a) “employed” occupational therapists – occupational therapists practising in the occupational therapy profession in Hong Kong during the survey period; and (b) “unemployed” occupational therapists - occupational therapists who (i) were not practising in the local occupational therapy profession during the survey period; (ii) had been available for work during the seven days before the survey AND (iii) had sought work in the local occupational therapy profession during the 30 days before the survey. The respondent would be classified as “unemployed” if he / she had sought work in the local occupational therapy profession but had not been available for work because of temporary sickness.
    The respondent would also be classified as “unemployed” if he / she fulfilled conditions (i) and (ii) but had not sought work during the 30 days before enumeration because he / she believed that work was not available; or had made arrangements to take up a new job; or was starting business on a subsequent date; or was expecting to return to the original job in the local occupational therapy profession..
    ‡ Economically inactive (“inactive”) occupational therapists referred to the responding occupational therapists who were not practising in the occupational therapy profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, excluding those who were 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.
  3. Of the 198 active occupational therapists practising in the local occupational therapy profession enumerated, 73.7% spent most of their working time on rehabilitation, while 15.2% reported spending most of their working time on administration / management, 5.1% reported teaching, 2.5% reported research and 2.5% reported primary health care† as the main area of work.
  4. The median number of hours of work per week (excluding meal breaks) of the 198 active occupational therapists practising in the local occupational therapy profession enumerated was 42.0 hours, amongst which 18 (9.1%) were required to undertake on-call duty (excluding normal duty), with a median of 6.0 hours of on-call duty (excluding normal duty) per week.

Among the 21 inactive occupational therapists enumerated (See Chart) :

  1. 14 (66.7%) reported not seeking jobs in the local occupational therapy profession during the 30 days before enumeration. Among the 14 inactive occupational therapists who reported not seeking jobs in the local occupational therapy profession, the main reasons included: nine (64.3%) were working in other professions, two (14.3%) were retired, two (14.3%) reported as wanting to take rest / had no motive to work / had no financial need and one (7.1%) was engaged in household duties.
  2. Seven (33.3%) reported practising overseas.
† Refers to work such as health education, health promotion, or work involving patient care in the primary care setting.
Activity Status of Occupational Therapists Covered

Text Version

Notes: * Figure refers to the number of occupational therapists who had registered with the Occupational Therapists Board of Hong Kong under the Supplementary Medical Professions Ordinance (Chapter 359) on or before 31.7.2021 and who had provided written consent to receive information related to HMS-OT by post or email.
† Figure refers to the number of responding occupational therapists who (a) were not practising in the occupational therapy profession in Hong Kong 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.
‡ Figure refers to the number of responding occupational therapists who (a) were not practising in the occupational therapy profession in Hong Kong during the survey period; (b) had been available for work during the seven days before the survey; AND (c) had not sought work during the 30 days before enumeration because he / she was expecting to return to his / her original job in the local occupational therapy profession.
§ Figure refers to the number of responding occupational therapists who reported as wanting to rest / no motive to work/ no financial need.
Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.

Last Revision Date : 25 Jan 2024