New physiotherapy graduates in Hong Kong are struggling to secure employment as the industry faces a significant job crunch. Industry representatives report that competition for available roles has intensified, citing an instance where 60 candidates applied for a single position at a remote elderly care facility. This tightening of the job market is attributed to two primary factors: ongoing budget cuts within the healthcare sector and a growing number of newly qualified practitioners entering the workforce.

Beyond the immediate employment challenges, there are signs of shifting interest in the field. Data regarding the Polytechnic University’s (PolyU) physiotherapy programme—often considered a benchmark for the industry—shows that the number of applicants who ranked the course as one of their top three choices, known as “Band A,” has dropped by approximately 9 percentage points. This decline in top-tier preference suggests that the current market conditions may be influencing the career aspirations of prospective students. While the industry has historically been viewed as a stable career path, the current oversupply of graduates relative to available positions has created a bottleneck that is impacting both recent entrants and the pipeline of future professionals.