XN000022-1978-02-12 — Page 5

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1978

THE OFFICER WHO IS AS DETERMINED AS KING-MAN, TOOK THREE DAYS TO FIND AN EMPLOYER WHO NODDED HIS HEAD.

HE IMMEDIATELY PASSED THE GOOD NEWS TO KING-MAN AND DROVE HIM TO SEE THE EMPLOYER THE NEXT DAY.

KING-MAN GOT THE JOB AND IS NOW WORKING AS AN ASSEMBLING WORKER IN AN ELECTRONIC FACTORY ONLY A FEW BLOCKS AWAY FROM HIS HOME.

HE EARNS $26 A DAY AND IS ENTITLED TO ALL FRINGE BENEFITS JUST LIKE OTHER WORKERS IN THE FACTORY.

+I CERTAINLY OWE THE SOCIAL WELFARE DEPARTMENT A LOT IN PARTICULAR THE JOB PLACEMENT OFFICER WHO MADE SO MUCH EFFORTS IN FINDING ME A JOB,+ SAID KING-MAN.

HONG KING-MAN IS JUST ONE OF THE MANY DISABLED PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN SECURED EMPLOYMENT BY THE JOB PLACEMENT UNIT WHICH WAS SET UP IN APRIL 1967 TO HELP THE PHYSICALLY DISABLED, THE DEAF, THE BLIND, THE MENTALLY-RETARDED, AND FORMER LEPROSY AND TUBERCULOSIS PATIENTS.

+

THE OFFICER IN CHARGE OF THE UNIT, MR. CHAN SHIU-WING SAID EMPLOYERS NOW BECOME LESS SCEPTICAL ABOUT THE ABILITY OF THESE WORKERS WHO HAVE PROVED THAT THEY CAN WORK AS WELL AS ANY ABLED PERSON.

+THIS TREND CAN BE REFLECTED BY THE INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF JOBS SECURED FOR THESE PEOPLE BY THE UNIT - RISING FROM 306 IN 1975/76 TO 526 IN LAST FINANCIAL YEAR - AN INCREASE OF 220 JOBS OR 71.9 PER CENT.

IN THE FIRST EIGHT MONTHS OF 1977/78, THE UNIT HAS FOUND JOBS FOR 344 PEOPLE, BRINGING TO 2,977, THE TOTAL NUMBER OF JOBS SECURED SINCE THE INCEPTION OF THE UNIT.