ENG-1961 — Page 45

28

REVIEW

illiterate, and most parents will now allow their daughters to go to school. The exception to this improvement is found among the boat people, more than 75% of whom are still illiterate and have never been to school(".

Although at the time of writing the economic tables have not yet been completed, some interesting facts about employment have come to light. Out of 943,764 males aged 15 and over, 852,800 are in the labour force, a male labour participation rate of 90.5%, which is higher than Japan and second in east Asia only to the Philippines(2). However of 908,849 females aged 15 and over, only 337,000 are in the labour force, a lower percentage than any country in the region except Taiwan and Singapore(2), the total number of economically active females being considerably less than the number of housewives (470,763). The number of boys and girls under 15 who are working is small-11,900 boys and about 10,000 girls-of whom virtually none are in registered in- dustrial undertakings, and the majority are probably assisting their parents on the farm, on board a boat or in retail trade. The number of persons reporting themselves as 'unemployed' (i.e. having formerly had work but not now) was 15,905, mostly men, and the number of 'job-seekers' (i.e. seeking their first employment) was 5,131. Considering that the net natural gain to the labour force in the twelve months preceding the census was over 20,000 and that 13,919 men and 7,637 women of working age said they had arrived within twelve months before census day and another 7,522 men and 8,697 women of working age said they had been here for one year, this indicates that the local labour market was then still able to absorb new entrants at a much faster rate than the natural increase.

Mention of immigration brings up the question which more than any other complicates the task of calculating the true rate of increase of the population. Ever since the huge influx of people in 1949 and 1950 it has been assumed that, careful as were the checks on immigration especially from the mainland of China, a certain number were passing in unobserved. Estimates of this varied from a flood to a trickle. But in the absence of positive

(1) There is an active programme of education for fishermen's children. (2) Source of comparisons: Monthly Statistics of Japan, November 1961; Handbook of Philippine Statistics 1903-1959, Manila 1960; ILO Year Book of Labour Statistics, 1960; UN Demographic Year Book, 1960.

Page 45Page 46