ENG-1953 — Page 40

Chapter 2

OCCUPATIONS, WAGES AND LABOUR

ORGANIZATION

Employment

The principal industrial occupations in the Colony are cotton spinning, knitting, weaving, shipbuilding and ship repair- ing, printing and publishing, and the manufacture of a number of items including metalware, chemicals (including matches), hand torches, rubber footwear, rattan ware and garments as well as the processing and preserving of different kinds of food. There has been no increase in the general level of unemploy- ment during the year but neither, in many of the established trades such as shipbuilding, knitting, weaving, match and torch making, has there been full employment. Industries that have started up or developed significantly during the year include nylon knitting, silk screen printing, glove making, embroidering and the manufacture of kerosene pressure lamps and cookers, electric irons and kettles, and plastic wares. Electric clocks and gramophone records are also being made but full production has not yet been reached. The distribution of industrial under- takings remains at about one on the Island to each two in Kowloon and the New Territorries, and the following figures for employment in registered and recorded factories and workshops for the past six years show the steady rate of industrial development:

Establishments Males Females Total

Year

1948

1,266

38,783

25,090 63,873

1949

1,426

49,864

31,707 81,571

1950

1,752

57,596

34,390 91,986

1951

1,961

62,192

33,015

95,207

1952

2,088

63,093

35,033

98,126

1953

2,208

65,047

35,729

100,776

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