HALF a million Hong Kong people, almost one-sixth of the SAR’s labor force, are working on the mainland, mostly in large cities such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing, The Standard newspaper said yesterday.

　More than half of them had worked and lived on the mainland for years while the rest crossed the border to work for at least six months of the year, the Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper said, quoting a mainland official media report.

　Hong Kong people began to work on the mainland in the early 1990s, and the trend had accelerated in the past two years with China’s fast economic development and Hong Kong’s worsening unemployment. The salary gap has also been narrowed.An increasing number of State-owned enterprises and private firms are employing Hong Kong professionals to help them boost their competitiveness now that China is a WTO member.

　However, it would not be easy for Hong Kong people to find jobs on the mainland which is also struggling to create employment opportunities. <2001>(SD-Agencies)