EMPLOYMENT
29
government workshops and some of the larger industrial concerns. A special feature is the award of overseas training opportunities to outstanding technical apprentices who have completed their training locally. The Taikoo Dockyard and Engineering Company of Hong Kong Limited, the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company Limited, and the Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Limited train substantial numbers of apprentices, while some public utility companies train a smaller number.
In many Chinese factories run on traditional lines, the recruitment and training of apprentices is haphazard. Among the steps taken during the year to improve apprentice training was the appointment of a Senior Training Officer (Apprenticeship) whose primary tasks are to advise the Commissioner and the Industrial Training Advisory Committee on the preparation of apprenticeship legislation and to implement the Advisory Committee's recommendations on the training of technicians and craftsmen. The Committee on Apprentice- ship continues to be responsible for investigating, advising and making recommendations on apprenticeship matters generally, and the Senior Training Officer (Apprenticeship) is both member and secretary of this committee.
WAGES AND CONDITIONS OF WORK
Most semi-skilled and unskilled workers in the manufacturing industry are piece-rated although daily rates of pay are also common. Men and women receive the same rates for piece-work but women are generally paid less when engaged on a time basis. Wages may be calculated on an hourly, daily, or monthly basis and are customarily paid twice monthly or weekly.
The range of daily wages for the manufacturing industry at the end of 1969 was $11.00 to $36.00 for skilled workers; $6.60 to $24.00 for semi-skilled; and $6.00 to $15.80 for unskilled. Many employers provide their workers with free accommodation, subsi- dised meals or food-allowances, good attendance bonuses, and paid rest-days as well as a lunar new year bonus of one month's pay.
A consumer price index, intended as an indicator of the effects of price changes on household expenditure, was published through- out the year. It varied from 114 to 124 (base of 100=period of