XN000022-1995-10-13 — Page 10

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I quite take your point about the importance of making sure there are enough factories in Hong Kong. We've got factory estates and we're committed to developing another one. But what's important is to have employers moving into the factories with the ideas to produce goods and the markets to sell them to. We shouldn't think that we just have to depend on manufacturing; we used to in Hong Kong. But now, about 85%/86% of our employment is in service industries which are just as important in creating jobs and creating resources in the community. And we've set up a committee under the new Financial Secretary, a task force under the new Financial Secretary, Donald Tsang, to try to give the maximum support to service industries - as well as, of course, the manufacturing industry the maximum support to service industries so they'll produce new jobs as well.

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One final point on employment. In the last three years we've created 270,000 new jobs. That's a net figure. There's been a 10% increase in the number of jobs in Hong Kong but there's been an 11% increase in the number of people in the work- force. That's not because of people all coming in through job programmes. That's because of returning emigrants, it's because of immigrants from China, it's because of demographic changes with more young people coming into the work-force and not as many retiring from it, though there has been a small addition, as well, of people who've been part of the Labour Importation Scheme, but that's a very small part of the figure. So the main problem we've had is that even though we've been increasing the number of jobs, the number of people in the work-force has increased by slightly

more.

Question (in Chinese): You're constantly saying that you want to improve issues of livelihood but the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Michael Suen, has not paid attention to us. A lot of people have been trying to help social workers related to the Neighbourhood Level Community Development Project. Could you just answer me whether you support or you don't support that particular community project?

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