134 | Employment
Helping the Disabled Find Jobs
The Labour Department's Selective Placement Division helps people with disabilities to integrate into the community through open employment. It provides free employment counselling and placement services for people with hearing or visual impairment, the physically handicapped, chronically ill, mentally handicapped, ex-mentally ill and people with specific learning difficulties and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders. The division launched a series of events in 2007 to help these people secure employment. It registered 3 666 such job-seekers and found work for 2 619 of them during the year. The figure represents an all-time high. placement rate of 71.4 per cent.
The Labour Department has been running a Work Orientation and Placement Scheme since 2005 to enhance the employment prospects of people with disabilities by giving them pre-employment training. Employers participating in the scheme. receive a monthly allowance from the Labour Department, equivalent to 50 per cent of what they pay the disabled employee each month (subject to a maximum of $3,000) for up to three months. By year-end, 920 people had undergone pre- employment training and 908 had found jobs.
Employment Agencies
The Labour Department's Employment Agencies Administration enforces Part XII of the Employment Ordinance and the Employment Agency Regulations. It carries out checks on them, investigates complaints against them and plays other watchdog roles. In 2007, it issued 1 830 employment agency licences, revoked one and rejected one renewal application.
Preparing People for Work
Careers Guidance
The Careers Advisory Service of the Labour Department helps young people choose careers best suited to them through education.
During the year, student groups visited the Labour Department's Careers Information Centre and various commercial and industrial establishments. In addition, the Education and Careers Expo 2007 attracted 191 651 visitors.
The Labour Department set up a youth employment resource centre called 'Youth Employment Start' in December to provide one-stop career advisory and support services to young people aged between 15 and 29. The centre provides career assessments, career guidance, value-added training, support services for the self-employed, and labour market information to help these young people plan their careers, enhance their job prospects, and lend them support in carrying out their own businesses.
Skills Upgrading Scheme
A $400-million Skills Upgrading Scheme (SUS) was set up in 2001 to provide focused skills training for in-service workers to adapt to the changing economic environment.