EMPLOYMENT
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The Special Importation of Labour Scheme for the New Airport and Related Projects was introduced in May 1990 to facilitate the timely completion of the new airport and related projects. It operates under a quota ceiling of 17 000. All contractors who have been awarded contracts for the new airport and related projects are eligible to apply for imported workers under the scheme. To safeguard the interests of local workers, each application has to comply with several basic requirements. These include: the number, type and duration of employment of imported workers must be compatible with the manpower requirements of the works contract in question; wages offered must be no less than those offered to a local worker in a comparable position; the employer must go through a four-week local recruitment test for the job vacancy at the Labour Department to give priority of employment to local workers; and the imported worker is to remain only under the direct employment of the same employer under the specific works contract(s) up to the duration of the employment contract and to engage only in work stipulated in such a contract. By December 1997, 3 990 imported workers were employed in Hong Kong, comprising about 14 per cent of the total workforce for the projects.
Entry of Mainland Professionals for employment
The Pilot Scheme for the entry of mainland professionals was introduced in March 1994 with a quota ceiling of 1 000 to allow the entry of graduate professionals from any of the 36 key mainland tertiary institutions, for employment in Hong Kong. All Hong Kong companies can apply under the scheme. At the end of the year, 604 out of the total of 2 216 applications had been approved and 599 employment visas issued. The government is reviewing the scheme with a view to devising appropriate measures to meet the needs of employers in certain trades for professionals from Mainland China who possess skills, knowledge and experience of value to Hong Kong but not readily available here.
Foreign Domestic Helpers
Foreign domestic helpers enter subject to the conditions that they have experience in that field of work, that their employers are bona fide Hong Kong residents prepared to offer reasonable terms of employment including wages and accommodation, and that the employers are willing to provide for the helpers' maintenance in the territory as well as the costs of repatriation to their country of origin.
Demand for foreign domestic helpers has increased steadily. In December 1997, there were 170 971 such helpers in Hong Kong, representing an increase of 4 per cent compared with 164 299 in 1996. About 81 per cent were from the Philippines.
Employment Agencies
The Labour Department's Employment Agencies Administration enforces Part XII of the Employment Ordinance and the Employment Agency Regulations. It monitors the operation of employment agencies through licensing. In 1997, it issued 1 134 licences.
Employment Outside Hong Kong
The External Employment Service of the Labour Department administers the Contracts for Employment Outside Hong Kong Ordinance in safeguarding the interests of local employees engaged to work outside Hong Kong for foreign