Chapter 7
Employment
The government promotes employment, maintains harmonious labour relations, safeguards the labour rights of employees and enhances safety and health at work.
Employment is the key to people's livelihood. The government improves the use of human resources in Hong Kong and supports economic development by upgrading workers' skills so they can be more employable and competitive, improving the business environment, introducing measures to create jobs and enhancing labour market efficiency.
The Labour and Welfare Bureau maps out strategies to develop a well-trained and adaptable workforce to meet the changing manpower demands of the economy and contribute to the overall competitiveness of Hong Kong.
The Labour Department formulates and implements labour policies; enforces labour legislation; provides free employment and recruitment services to job-seekers and employers; promotes harmonious labour relations; safeguards employees' rights and benefits; and promotes the occupational safety, health and welfare of the workforce.
Labour legislation, supplemented by administrative measures, provides the statutory basis for employers' and employees' obligations and rights, and enables the city to meet internationally accepted labour standards. In 2018, the department secured 4,377 convictions, resulting in fines totalling more than $34.04 million.
To strengthen the regulation of employment agencies (EAs), the Employment (Amendment) Ordinance 2018 took effect on 9 February to, amongst other things, increase the penalties on EAs overcharging job-seekers or operating without a licence, from a maximum fine of $50,000 to a maximum fine of $350,000 and imprisonment for three years. On the same day, the maximum daily rates of medical expenses reimbursable for employees injured at work and prescribed occupational disease sufferers under the Employees' Compensation Ordinance and the Pneumoconiosis and Mesothelioma (Compensation) Ordinance also increased.
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