R.318
139 20
HONG
5 4
KONG GOVERNMENT OFFICE
PALL
MALL LONDON S. W. I
Our Ref 16/108CD. Pt.II.
St-cd be useful to
Mr Hewitt
No hay mara
화
Dear Benyny,
Laure Av. Forgon's views
12th September, 1967.
On this
7379
Hong Kong's Economically Active
Population.
You may be interested to have on record the enclosed copy of a personal letter to me from Bob Hetherington, together with a graph and figures showing what proportions of the total population are economically active in various sex and age groups. The graph is on similar lines to ore which I had prepared in Hong Kong in 1964 on the basis of information obtained in the 1961 Census but brings the picture up to date. A copy of the 1964 graph is attached for purposes of comparison.
Both graphs show that the labour participat- ion rate for men from the age of 20 upwards is very high indeed, while that for women from the age of 25 upwards is less than 50%. The latest graph indicates that roughly half the total number of young men and girls in the 16 to 20 age group are employed either full time or part-time.
Concern has been expressed since the 1965 Kowloon Riots about the lack of employment opportunities for young persons in the 16 to 20 age group. The graph unfortunately does not show how many of the economically inactive in this age group are in fact attending school. It would be interesting to know how many in this group are in fact undergoing some form of schooling and how many are neither at school nor employed. I propose to ask Bob Hetherington if he can have the school-going population figures added in, although there may be some technical difficulty now that the economically active group includes persons who may be studying as well as doing part-time work.
I am writing in identical terms to George Foggon who will also be interested.
Yours sincerel
fat Deagoa
(P.C.M.Sedgwick).
RECEIVED IN
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HUD 18/1
Encl: PCMS/VMH.
W.S.Carter, Esq.
Commonwealth Office,
Curtis Green Building,
Victoria Embankment,
LONDON, S.W.1.
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