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As concrete proposals emerge from these exercises, we shall brief this Council and seek Member's advice, as well as the business community's input. And we should not lose sight of the fact that inward and domestic investment are already growing strongly.
Unemployment
I spoke earlier of the three economic problems we face: slower growth, unemployment and inflation. I now want to address specifically concerns about unemployment. I realise that there is nothing to be gained from pointing out that Hong Kong's unemployment rate is very low by the standards of most other mature economies. The point is that our unemployment rate is now high by our own Hong Kong standards. For the unemployed workers, international comparisons offer no comfort at all.
Nevertheless, we have to start our discussions with the facts about our own labour market. In recent months, we have experienced a more than 4 per cent increase in labour supply. At the same time, the number of jobs has been growing at about half this rate. Of course, we must welcome the return of larger numbers of former emigrants from Hong Kong. And we also welcome the increased family reunions because of the higher number of new arrivals from China. But the economy has not been able to accommodate, immediately and in full, the demand for jobs from the increased labour force. And behind the cold statistics of labour market are the real stories, the distress and the disappointment of those unable to find suitable employment. The Government accepts a duty to help these people and we are doing
SO.
* The Labour Department's Job Matching Programme has been upgraded to help people identify the jobs which best suit their skills and experience There are over 50,000 job vacancies in the private sector at present, which means we should be able to make a success of this Programme.
The Employees Retraining Board has overhauled its efforts to help unemployed workers acquire new skills to equip themselves for the changed labour market. So far this year, it has helped over 5,000 workers to find jobs.
Retraining and job matching are the keys to helping the labour market work more efficiently and more humanely. They are among the highest priorities of the Government today.