EMPLOYMENT
19
soya sauce and preserved fruits, the burning of coral and sea-shells for lime, brick manufacture, boat-building and repairing.
In the absence of comprehensive statistics, no accurate estimate can be made of unemployment in Hong Kong. At the time of the 1961 census some 16,000 persons between the ages of 15 and 64 described themselves as unemployed and about 5,000 claimed to be seeking their first jobs. On the other hand, surveys conducted by the Labour Department reveal that there are now many vacancies in industry, mostly in the garment, textile and plastics industries.
As many countries maintain strict control over the entry of foreign nationals, the scope for overseas employment of Hong Kong Chinese is limited. Moreover Hong Kong itself has a good labour market and, unless terms for overseas employment are particularly attractive, it is not easy to recruit workers. The prin- cipal sources of overseas employment are Sabah, Brunei and Sarawak, where skilled and semi-skilled workers are in great demand in the construction industry and the oilfields. Another outlet is the Nauru and Ocean Islands for which the British Phosphate Commissioners continue to recruit Hong Kong workers. Singapore continued to attract fishermen in 1965, and a number of enamel workers went to Ceylon and Ghana. Chinese restaurants in Britain and other countries provided employment for waiters and cooks at attractive wages. There are now about 2,000 Chinese restaurants in Britain employing some 30,000 Hong Kong workers, the majority of whom are from the New Territories. Remittances from Britain are now an important factor in the economy of many New Ter- ritories villages. During 1965, for example, postal and money orders to the value of $27,104,646 were cashed at New Territories post offices. In addition, money remitted through banks is likely to total as much again. Towards the end of the year measures to protect the interests of emigrant workers from Hong Kong were introduced by bringing into force the Contracts for Overseas Employment Ordinance, which had been enacted in the previous February. The new ordinance covers alien labour permit holders (but not British or Commonwealth holders of employment vouchers) going to Britain. During the year 1,416 contracts were approved, compared with 1,768 in 1964. In addition, 323 re-engagement con- tracts were approved.
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