XN000022-1995-10-19 — Page 12

11.

-

Turning to the General Labour Importation Scheme, the Governor said since the Scheme was introduced in 1989, the labour market had changed significantly.

"This year, the labour force has been expanding at a rate of 4.3 per cent or by about 120,000 workers. The net rate of creation of new jobs has been 2.6 per cent or about 78,000 new job opportunities for the year. The consequence has been a rise in unemployment to 3.5 per cent of the labour force," he said.

He said government policies must change to meet changing circumstances and that was why he announced in his Policy Address to the Legislative Council that the Government would be phasing out the General Scheme and introduce a smaller scale and more targeted Supplementary Labour Importation Scheme.

The Governor said he believed the new scheme would meet the practical needs of the business community and the economy.

"I think in this instance the best interests of the whole community lie in: getting our unemployed workers back into jobs; and retaining the ability to import workers to meet particular requirements which cannot be met locally," he said.

End/Thursday, October 19, 1995

Governor's speech

Following is the speech given by the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, to a joint luncheon of Hong Kong chambers of commerce today (Thursday):

William, ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you very much indeed for the introduction, and thank you very much indeed for another free lunch.