OCCUPATIONS, WAGES AND LABOUR ORGANIZATION
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industry and the sustained high level of building activity kept large numbers employed, and skilled workers found their services in demand, there was a large surplus of unskilled labour, most of it in the under-employed category.
There were fluctuations in employment in various industries, but reduced employment in any particular field was offset by increased employment in another. Changes of this kind do not necessarily imply any lengthy period of unemployment for individual workers, since the majority of semi-skilled and unskilled workers are adaptable and are capable of turning their hands, for example, from weaving or garment-making to assembly work in a metal- ware factory or gumming in a rubber shoe factory.
Migration for Employment. Migration to other territories for employment continued to take place; but only on a small scale, owing to immigration restrictions imposed by countries unwilling to accept Chinese as permanent settlers. A small number of workers left permanently to join relatives in the United States, Canada, South America, Australia and France. Skilled and semi- skilled workmen from the Colony, as before, were much in demand in the Brunei oilfields and in development projects in North Borneo, Brunei and Sarawak. Local textile and enamelware factories sent skilled hands to develop connected enterprises in Indonesia, Burma, and Thailand. During the year the number of employment contracts for emigrant manual workers officially approved by the Government showed little change, the total being 2,054 compared with 2,051 in, 1957.
In April 1958 the North Borneo Government announced a scheme for the settlement of a limited number of Hong Kong agricultural workers in that territory. Applicants under the scheme must be sponsored by relatives or friends who are already North Borneo residents. These emigrant agricultural workers are to be protected in their employment by a three-year contract until such time as they are allowed to settle permanently or are required to return to Hong Kong.
WAGES AND CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT
Wages. Wages are normally calculated on a monthly, daily or hourly basis or on piece rates, but it is customary for most daily