Chapter 3: Occupations, Wages and Labour Organization
OCCUPATIONS
THE principal sources of employment in Hong Kong are industry, commerce, agriculture, fishing, and the internal distributive trades. No comprehensive employment statistics are collected by Gov- ernment except those relating to industrial concerns registered or recorded* with the Labour Department. These cover the bulk of the Colony's industries.
The number of persons engaged in agriculture and fishing is estimated to be slightly over 380,000. The total number of persons employed by the Hong Kong Government is slightly over 45,000. An additional 26,000 are engaged in the public transport services. About 160,000 workers are estimated to be employed in building and engineering construction. During the year fewer persons were employed in a civilian capacity by the Armed Services. Over-1,900 such persons were discharged from H.M. Dockyard, which offi- cially closed on 28th November.
The main factor in employment continued to be, as for several years past, the rapid expansion of local industry, which now accounts for about 70% of the total exports from the Colony. In spite of discriminatory and other trading restrictions encountered by local manufacturers in various countries and of the continued shortage of suitable industrial premises, the number of registered industrial undertakings rose by 288 to 2,993. There were 2,030 recorded undertakings, a decrease of 171 from the previous year. The number of registered and recorded industrial undertakings increased, therefore, by 117 to 5,023, and the number of workers employed in them rose by 37,370 to 217,367. At the end of the year 784 applications for registration of industrial undertakings were under consideration.
*This term is explained on page 42 in the Chapter under Factory Inspection and Registration.
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