ENG-1963 — Page 76

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EMPLOYMENT

adjustment, wages in the dockyards were below average although cash earnings were not abnormally low as wages are payable on a basis of an eight-hour day for a 26-day month and overtime is worked on a large scale. In the tram, bus and taxicab companies the increases granted were between $18 and $25 (7 per cent to 11 per cent). Because of the casual nature of their employment, stevedores and ship-painters received an increase of 37 per cent in their daily wages, while tallyclerks were granted an increase of 16.6 per cent to 18.8 per cent. As a result of this wide-spread adjustment in wages, the current wage rates for daily rated workers were: skilled $9 to $24; semi-skilled $8 to $11.50; unskilled $3.50 to $9. Many employers provide their workers with free accom- modation, subsidized meals or food allowances, good attendance bonuses, paid rest-days, and also a Chinese New Year bonus of one month's pay.

Working hours. There are no legal restrictions on the hours of work for men. Most of those in industry work 10 hours a day or less, while civil servants and those employed in concerns operating on Western lines work eight hours. Regulations made under the Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance, 1955, provide for maximum daily hours, limited overtime, weekly rest-days and rest periods for women and young persons.

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Young persons between the ages of 14 and 16 may work only eight hours a day, with a break of one hour after five hours' con- tinuous work. Children under the age of 14 are prohibited from working in industry, and no woman or young person is allowed to work at night or underground. Restrictions on the hours of work for women, introduced on 1st January 1959, have resulted in a decrease in the number of hours worked by men employed in the same concerns. By the end of 1963, 141 cotton spinning, cotton weaving and silk spinning mills had introduced a system of three eight-hour daily shifts and it was estimated that 25,412 men and 20,496 women were working eight hours a day. A rest period of one hour a day is customary throughout industry, but when working hours exceed eight a day, the rest period may be prolonged to as much as three hours. Except where continuous production demands a rotation of rest days, which are usually unpaid, Sunday is the most common rest day. Many male industrial