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Employment
Employment Services
The Labour Department provides free employment and recruitment services to job-seekers and employers through 13 job centres, three recruitment centres for the catering, retail and construction industries, a Telephone Employment Service Centre and a Job Vacancy Processing Centre. Round-the-clock employment services are available through the Interactive Employment Service website and mobile application.
The department organises large-scale, district-based and thematic job fairs. It offers targeted help through the Employment Programme for the Elderly and Middle-aged, Work Trial Scheme, Work Orientation and Placement Scheme for job-seekers with disabilities, Youth Employment and Training Programme, and Youth Employment Start. For major closure or retrenchment cases, it will set up a telephone hotline and special counters at job centres to provide priority job referral services for affected workers.
In 2019, the department registered 43,742 job-seekers and made over 111,000 job placements. It recorded 1,288,926 private-sector vacancies, 12.2 per cent less than in 2018.
Employment Programme for the Elderly and Middle-aged
Employers engaging job-seekers aged 60 or above who are unemployed or have left the workforce and providing them with on-the-job training under the Employment Programme for the Elderly and Middle-aged are offered a monthly training allowance of up to $4,000 per employee for six to 12 months. Those who engage unemployed job-seekers aged 40 to 59 are offered an allowance of up to $3,000 per month for three to six months. This programme recorded 3,061 placements in 2019.
Work Trial Scheme
Work trials are conducted for people with difficulties in finding jobs. On 1 May, the work trial allowance was increased for full-time posts and the scope of the scheme expanded to cover part-time posts. Each participant who completes a one-month full-time work trial receives $8,300 from the department, while the allowance for a part-time work trial is $49 per hour, of which $500 is contributed by the organisation in which the participant served. During the year, 227 people took part in the trials.
Work Incentive Transport Subsidy Scheme
This scheme helps low-income earners reduce their cost of travelling to and from work and encourages them to secure and stay in employment. During the year, 26,883 applicants received the subsidy.
People with Disabilities
The department helps people with disabilities who are fit for open employment to seek jobs. It provides free employment counselling and placement services to people who are formerly mentally ill or have hearing or visual impairment, physical handicap, chronic illness, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, specific learning difficulties or attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder. In 2019, the department registered 2,766 job-seekers with disabilities and secured 2,213 placements.
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