9.
An outplacement service is being offered to employers so that they can offer ERB's retraining service to employees before retrenchment. ERB is preparing a major promotional campaign for this new service.
pro-active job search on a district basis through the fax line system is being tried out by the ERB. If the pilot scheme is successful, this will be conducted at fortnightly intervals.
Discussions are going on with the Computer Department of the City University with a view to developing an on-line computerised employment network in Hong Kong to facilitate the free flow of information on jobs and job seekers.
On the enforcement side, the spokesman said the task force in the Immigration Department would be doubled in strength this year to 92.
The task force will step up large scale investigations and will conduct raids on work places suspected of employing illegal workers. Illegal workers refer to those overseas contract workers, domestic helpers who have taken up unapproved employment; or visitors and overstayers from overseas countries or China who have taken up employment without permission.
The task force, since its establishment last summer, has carried out 42 major operations and arrested 1,055 suspected illegal workers.
"We are proposing to increase substantially the penalty for illegal employment to achieve the desired deterrent effect," the spokesman said.
He also said the Government was studying the problem of age discrimination in the employment field and will formulate measures to tackle the problem if necessary.
The spokesman reiterated that the Government was concerned that the unemployment rate, although low by international standard, had been increasing in recent months.
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