Statistics
2014 Health Manpower Survey on Physiotherapists
Key Findings
1. The physiotherapists covered in the 2014 HMS were physiotherapists registered with the Physiotherapists Board of Hong Kong under the Supplementary Medical Professions Ordinance (Chapter 359) as at the survey reference date - 31.3.2014.
2. The number of physiotherapists covered was 2 538.
3. Of the 2 538 registered physiotherapists covered, 1 386 responded to the survey, giving an overall response rate of 54.6%. Of the 1 386 responding physiotherapists, 1 254 (90.5%) were economically active*† (active) while 132 (9.5%) reported to be economically inactive*‡ (inactive) in the local physiotherapy profession.
4. Of the 1 254 active physiotherapists, 1 248 (99.5%) were practising in the local physiotherapy profession, five (0.4%) were seeking jobs and one (0.1%) was expecting to return to the original job in the local physiotherapy profession during the 30 days before the survey.
5. The survey findings presented below were based on the 1 248 responding physiotherapists who were practising in the local physiotherapy profession as at 31.3.2014. As some questionnaires had missing responses, percentages presented below may not add up to 100%.
| (i) | Three physiotherapists did not indicate sex. Among the remaining 1 245 active physiotherapists enumerated, 532 (42.7%) were male and 713 (57.3%) were female, giving an overall sex ratio (males per 100 females) of 75. Nine physiotherapists did not indicate age and the median age of the remaining 1 239 active physiotherapists enumerated was 37.0 years. |
|
| (ii) | Distribution by sector of the main job§ showed that 509 (40.8%) were working in the private sector, followed by 481 (38.5%) in the Hospital Authority, 199 (15.9%) in the subvented sector, 43 (3.4%) in the academic sector and 16 (1.3%) in the Government. |
|
| (iii) | 87.6% spent most of their working time on rehabilitation, followed by 5.9% on administration / management and 3.1% on primary health care and 2.5% on teaching. |
|
| (iv) | The median number of hours of work (excluding meal breaks) per week of the 1 248 active physiotherapists enumerated was 44.0 hours. 90 (7.2%) physiotherapists were required to undertake on-call duty (excluding normal duty), with a median number of 4.0 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” physiotherapists comprised all “employed” and “unemployed” physiotherapists. “Employed” physiotherapists referred to those physiotherapists practising in the physiotherapy profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, while “unemployed” physiotherapists referred to those physiotherapists who (a) were not practising in the local physiotherapy 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 physiotherapy profession during the 30 days before the survey. |
| ‡ | “Economically inactive” physiotherapists comprised the physiotherapists who were not practising in the physiotherapy 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 physiotherapists had spent most of their working time. |
6. Among the 132 inactive physiotherapists:
| (i) | 46 physiotherapists reported practising overseas and 11 physiotherapists reported practising in the Mainland. |
|
| (ii) | 75 physiotherapists reported not practising in the physiotherapy profession in Hong Kong and not seeking job in the local physiotherapy profession during the 30 days before the survey. The reasons reported for not seeking job included: 31 (41.3%) were working in other professions, 16 (21.3%) were engaged in household duties, 15 (20.0%) were retired and seven (9.3%) wanted to take rest / had no motive to work / had no financial need, etc. |
|
Activity Status of Physiotherapists Covered |