30
HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
Unemployment. The absence of comprehensive statistics relating to the working population precludes anything but estimates on the broadest basis of unemployment and under-employment, Certain industries, such as the manufacture of garments and textiles, in which expansion was very rapid because of a high level of produc- tion, experienced some difficulties in recruiting suitable staff. These difficulties were encountered particularly by factories established in new industrial areas on the outskirts of the urban area. The general shortage of housing and school facilities does not en- courage the movement of families from areas where such facilities are already established and the cost of transport, relatively high in relation to daily earnings, discourages long-distance travel. Consequently, labour lacks mobility and local shortages tend to occur. Although industrial expansion and the sustained high level of building activity kept large numbers employed, it is believed that a large surplus of unskilled labour in the under-employed category still exists in the urban area. On the other hand it seems likely that shortages of skilled labour will persist for some time to
come
pe while the present expansion of industry continues.
Migration for Employment. Migration for employment-con- tinued on a small scale, largely because of 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 workers continued to be much in demand for development projects in North Borneo, Brunei, and Sarawak. They were also recruited by the British Phosphate Commission for work in Nauru and Ocean Island and for a shipyard in New Guinea. Local textile and enamelware factories sent skilled hands to develop associated enterprises in Thailand, Indonesia, and territories in Africa. During the year the number of employment contracts for emigrant manual workers officially approved by Government showed a slight decrease, the total being 1,875 compared with 2,054 in 1958.
In 1959, 110 agricultural workers went to North Borneo under the North Borneo Government scheme for the settlement of a limited number of Hong Kong agricultural workers. These emigrant agricultural workers are protected in their employment