ENG-1958 — Page 42

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HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

were in the course of registration. Increases in the inspectorate staff of the Labour Department have made possible the regular inspection of a greatly increased number of industrial premises too small for registration, and as a result the number of registered and recorded industrial undertakings increased by 1,533 to 4,906 and the number of workers employed in them by 26,964 to 179,997. There were small increases in the number of outworkers and in the number of those employed in the industrial fringe.

Work on the reclamation at Kwun Tong to provide sites for industry continued, and by the end of the year ten factories were in operation and eight were under construction. Plans for thirty one other factories had been approved. Land sales and reclamation at Kwun Tong are also mentioned in Chapters 1, 6 and 14.

The manufacture of textiles, engaging 42,338 workers, remained the principal source of industrial employment. Within this industry the majority of the workers are employed in cotton weaving (15,870 workers) and cotton spinning (12,613 workers). The textile industry, together with the manufacture of wearing apparel, employing 25,602 workers, accounted for 37.8% of the industrial work force. Other important industries were the manufacture of metalware (24,342 workers) and the manufacture and repair of transport equipment, including shipbuilding and repairing (14,540 workers), which together with the textile and wearing apparel industries accounted for 59.3% of all workers in registered and recorded industrial undertakings as against 62% for 1957. The expansion of industry and industrial employment over the past three years has been as follows:

Year

1956

1957

1958

Industrial Undertakings

3,319

3,373

4,906

Male Workers

91,443 55,434 94,579 58,454 108,844 71,153 179,997

Female Total Workers Workers

146,877

153,033

A more detailed table showing the development of industry over the same period by main industrial groups, and by selected industries within certain of these groups, is at Appendix II.

Unemployment. The absence of general employment statistics precludes anything but estimates on the broadest basis concerning unemployment and under-employment. Although the growth of