4
Employment
HONG KONG has a resourceful and energetic workforce of 2 404 067 ✈ comprising 1 551 443 males and 852 624 females. (They are engaged in: agriculture and fishing, mining and quarrying, 48 560; manufacturing 990 365; electricity, gas and water 14 669; construction 185 999; wholesale and retail trade, restaurants and hotels, 461 489; transport, storage and communications 181 368; financing, insurance, real estate and business services 115 870; community, social and personal services, 375 703; and unclassifiable activities 30 044.
An establishment survey of Employment, Vacancies and Payroll in the industrial sector, held in September, recorded 904 646 people engaged in 46 729 establishments. It covered working proprietors and partners, employees receiving pay, and unpaid family workers affiliated to business organisations, but excluded the self-employed, out-workers, and other unpaid workers who were included in the household-type survey. Some 381 711 people the largest share of the manufacturing workforce - were engaged in the textile and wearing apparel industries. The electrical industry and the plastics industry were the next two largest employers. Details of the distribution of manufacturing establishments, and of the number of people engaged in them, are given in Appendices 13 and 14.
The bulk of the manufacturing workforce is concentrated in the urban areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. However, industrial development in the New Territories is increasing and more than one-quarter of the manufacturing workforce now works there.
Labour Legislation
Much has been done in recent years to secure a steady improvement in working conditions and terms of employment through an extensive programme of labour legislation. Since 1971, 151 pieces of legislation have been enacted -- 71 of them directly tied to improving conditions of employment.
During 1981, 26 items of labour legislation were enacted to provide for higher standards of safety, health and welfare of workers. This brings the total number of items of labour legislation enacted in the past decade to 151.
The Employment Ordinance provides the framework for a comprehensive code of employment into which major amendments have been progressively incorporated. It governs the payment of wages, the termination of employment contracts and the operation of employment agencies. The ordinance was amended in 1981 to raise the wage ceiling for non-manual employees from $3,500 to $6,000. Amendments were made to the provisions on maternity benefits to provide paid maternity leave for up to three children to female employees to whom the ordinance applies.
The Industrial Training (Construction Industry) (Amendment) Ordinance 1981 was enacted to provide for the imposition of a surcharge on the late payment of levy and to