ENG-1954 — Page 40

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT, 1954

Establishments Males Females Total

1950

1,752

57,596 34,390 91,896

1951

1,961

62,192

33,015

95,207

1952

2,088

63,093

35,033

98,216

1953

2,208

65,047

35,729

100,766

1954

2,494

72,011

43,442 115,453

In addition to workers in registered and recorded fac- tories and workshops, it is estimated that there are about 100,000 persons engaged in small unregistrable concerns, cottage industries, and as outworkers.

Approximate figures for other major sources of employment are:

Agriculture

Building Construction

Fishing

Government Service

Public Transport

200,000

200,000

50,000

29,000

25,000

Applications from employers to recruit local work- men for work overseas were slightly higher than in previous years. A total of 1,554 manual labourers went abroad during the year and contracts drawn up to International Labour Organization specifications were read and explained to all of them before embarkation. The majority went to Brunei, North Borneo and Sarawak for work in the oil fields or in the building trade, while others went to the phosphate mines on Nauru, Ocean Island and Christmas Island. A number of skilled textile workers went to the Argentine. Other factory workers left for Indonesia and there was a demand from Singapore for fishermen.

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