XN000022-1995-11-08 — Page 58

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Supplementary Labour Scheme

Following is a question by the Hon James Tien Pei-chun and a reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mr Joseph Wong, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

Under the Supplementary Labour Scheme, employers must advertise their vacancies in newspapers for a specific period of time and participate in a job-matching scheme to prove that local workers are not available before they can apply for a quota to import workers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a) whether the application procedures will be simplified and the processing time shortened, so that factory operators may be granted quotas for importing foreign workers have expired and recruitment of replacement staff has been unsuccessful; and

(b) whether the Government, in deciding to terminate the General Importation of Labour Scheme and formulating the Supplementary Labour Scheme, has considered or assessed what adverse effects such a change will have on the industrial and commercial developments in the territory?

Reply:

Mr President,

(a) The objective of the proposed Supplementary Labour Scheme is to allow for the entry of a limited number of imported workers to fill vacancies that cannot be filled locally. The proposed procedures under the Scheme are designed to safeguard the employment opportunities of local workers and to ensure that employers who have a genuine need to import workers are able to do so.

In the proposals set out in the report on the Review of the General Labour Importation Scheme, employers wishing to import workers are required first to advertise their vacancies in local newspapers for two weeks and undergo a four-week recruitment exercise. After that, they will be required to participate in the Job Matching Programme (JMP) of the Labour Department for two months before their applications are processed further. The Employees Retraining Board will be involved, where appropriate, to organise tailor-made courses or to arrange on-the-job training for local workers.