EMPLOYMENT
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of this labour force. The plastics industry, which also employs a large number of out-workers, remained the second largest employer.
During the year under review, it appeared that the demand for labour in manufacturing industries exceeded the supply of persons offering themselves for employment. The number of factories on record in the Labour Department at the end of the year was 10,413, many being small concerns. Of these, 6,292 were registered under the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance. The tables at Appendix III show development in main industrial groups and selected industries.
Industry in the New Territories is a recent development-apart from certain traditional trades in the main market towns and some pre-war textile factories in Tsuen Wan. In December 1966 the Labour Department had on record 913 factories in the New Territories with a labour force of 58,727. The bulk of this industrial popula- tion is concentrated in the emerging township of Tsuen Wan, which is designed to become a balanced community to include factories, housing, recreational facilities, services and other amenities. It already has many modern textile factories as well as others producing metalware, enamelware, glassware and plastics. There is also a government-owned flatted factory provided to meet the special requirements of small-scale silk weavers. Castle Peak and Sha Tin, two other areas in the New Territories, have recently been selected as sites for developing other large self-contained cities. There is some mining, mostly on a small scale employing a labour force of about 600, of whom about 500 are employed at an iron mine at Ma On Shan. There are also a number of stone quarries employing a total labour force of 1,588.
In the many old market towns and fishing settlements of the New Territories, traditional village industries still provide employ- ment, chiefly in the preparation of salt-fish, fish-paste, bean-curd, soya sauce and preserved fruits, the burning of coral and sea-shells for lime, brick manufacture, boat-building and repairing.
As most countries maintain strict control over the entry of foreign nationals seeking employment, opportunities overseas for Hong Kong Chinese are limited. Hong Kong itself has a good labour market and it is not easy to recruit workers for employment abroad unless the wages offered are particularly attractive. In previous