XN000022-1975-09-11 — Page 4

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1975

INDUSTRY URGED TO EXPAND TRAINING FACILITIES

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THE ACTING ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER FOR LABOUR, MR. T.Y. CHUI, TODAY CALLED ON EMPLOYERS TO ENGAGE MORE APPRENTICES AND EXPAND THEIR TRAINING FACILITIES TO MEET THE DEVELOPING NEEDS OF HONG KONG INDUSTRY IN ORDER TO REMAIN COMPETITIVE IN THE WORLD MARKET.

HE SAID EXPERIENCE HAD SHOWN THAT PROPER APPRENTICESHIP WAS THE QUICKEST AND THE MOST ECONOMICAL WAY OF TRAINING CRAFTSMEN AND TECHNICIANS.

SPEAKING AT THE LUNCHEON MEETING OF THE ROTARY CLUB OF HONG KONG SOUTH, MR. CHUI SAID THAT SINCE 1969 SOME 200 EMPLOYERS IN MAJOR INDUSTRIES HAD VOLUNTARILY ADOPTED THE APPROVED APPRENTICE- SHIP SCHEME.

HE POINTED OUT THAT THE LATEST INDUSTRIAL MANPOWER SURVEYS CONDUCTED BETWEEN 1970 AND 1974 SHOWED THAT THE ANNUAL NEEDS FOR NEWLY TRAINED CRAFTSMEN AND TECHNICIANS IN THE MAJOR INDUSTRIES COULD BE AS HIGH AS 8,500 AND 3,000 RESPECTIVELY.

+HOWEVER, HE SAID, +AT THE TIME OF THE SURVEYS, INDUSTRIES WERE FOUND TO BE TURNING OUT ONLY ABOUT 4,000 CRAFTSMEN EACH YEAR, AND ONLY ABOUT 750 TECHNICIANS EACH YEAR. OF THESE, ONLY A SMALL NUMBER WERE BEING TRAINED UNDER PROPER APPRENTICESHIP SCHEMES,+

+BUT THERE IS A LIMIT TO THE EXTENT TO WHICH APPRENTICESHIP

CAN BE PROMOTED ON A VOTUNTARY DASIS.

+SOME INDUSTRIALISTS HAVE THEREFORE RECOMMENDED THAT APPRENTICESHIP LEGISLATION SHOULD BE INTRODUCED TO ENSURE AN ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF PROPERLY TRAINED CRAFTSMEN AND TECHNICIANS,+ HE SAID.

MR. CHUI WENT ON TO SAY THAT TWO INDUSTRIAL TRAINING ORDINANCES WERE ENACTED LAST MONTH.

THEY WERE THE INDUSTRIAL TRAINING (CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY) ORDINANCE AND THE INDUSTRIAL TRAINING (CLOTHING INDUSTRY) ORDINANCE, WHICH PROVIDED FOR THE SETTING UP OF TRAINING AUTHORITIES TO BUILD AND ADMINISTER SEPARATE TRAINING CENTRES TO PRODUCE SKILLED PERSONNEL FOR THE TWO INDUSTRIES.

FINANCED BY TRAINING LEVIES, THE CENTRES WOULD PROVIDE BASIC AND PRACTICAL TRAINING FOR 600 CRAFT TRAINEES IN THE BUILDING TRADE AND 3,600 OPERATIVES IN THE CLOTHING INDUSTRY IN A YEAR.

THE LEVY SCHEMES, HE SAID, WERE ORIGINATED BY THE TWO " INDUSTRIES AND HAD BEEN INTRODUCED TO MEET THEIR SPECIFIC TRAINING REQUIREMENTS ON A COST-EFFECTIVE BASIS.

+THEIR SUCCESS WILL NO DOUBT DO MUCH TO ENCOURAGE OTHER INDUSTRIES TO FOLLOW, HE ADDED.