I
Saturday, September 2, 1972
NON-INDUSTRIAL WORKFORCE INCREASES
There has been an increase of 718 establishments, 5,873 employees
and 470 reported vacancies in the non-industrial sector since November last year.
This was revealed in a survey carried out in May by the Labour Department
on certain selected trades and services in the sector. The total number of
establishments recorded was 13,555 and these employed 257,495 people. The
total reported number of vacancies was 2,850.
Commenting on the survey, the Commissioner of Labour, Mr. Paul Teuf,
said that the response rate, which was 97 per cent, was encouraging.
The main increases in employment were in the import and export business,
which registered a rise of over 3,200 employees; and in the day schools, and
restaurant and cafe businesses, each with an increase of over 1,200 workers.
Other businesses included in the survey were banks, hotels, hospitals,
airfreight and travel agencies, transport and airline companies.
Women accounted for about 29 per cent of the labour force in the non-
industrial sector, compared with 48 per cent in the industrial sector.
Only about 4,500 young people under the age of 18 were employed in the
establishments in the survey, a drop of over 300 from the figure of November, 1971.
Mr. Tsui said that this survey, together with the survey of industrial
employment carried out by the Labour Department in June this year, covered some
870,000 workers in Hong Kong.
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