ENG-1964 — Page 29

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EMPLOYMENT

There still continued to be a shortage of premises for the small manufacturers of limited means, although the construction of industrial buildings continued, particularly at the San Po Kong, Kwun Tong and Tsuen Wan industrial areas. The total number of registered and recorded factories at the end of the year was 8,215 many being small concerns. The tables at Appendix I shows the development in the main industrial groups and selected industries.

In the absence of comprehensive statistics on employment no accurate estimate can be made of unemployment. In 1961 some 16,000 people between the ages of 15 and 64 described themselves as unemployed and another 5,000 said they were seeking jobs. On the other hand a survey in the middle of this year recorded more than 21,000 vacancies in industry, mostly in some twelve hundred factories in the garments, textiles and plastics industries. These two sets of figures tend to confirm the assumption that some persons describing themselves as unemployed might have been actually receiving income from casual or indirect employment and that the picture was one of fluctuation between one industry and another or one area and another.

As many countries maintain strict control over the entry of Chinese, the scope for employment of Hong Kong Chinese overseas is comparatively limited. The Colony itself has a good labour market and unless terms for overseas employment are particularly attractive, it is not easy to recruit workers for such employment. The principal sources of overseas employment are Sabah, Brunei and Sarawak, where skilled and semi-skilled workers are in great demand in the construction industry and the oil fields. Another outlet is in Nauru and Ocean Islands for which the British Phosphate Commissioners continue to recruit Hong Kong workers. Singapore continued to attract more fishermen and a number of enamel workers went to Ceylon. Chinese-style restaurants in Britain and other countries provided employment for many waiters and cooks at attractive wages. Except for employment in Britain all emigrant manual workers held contracts of service drawn up in accordance with international labour conventions and approved by the Labour Department who explain the terms of their contracts to workers before they leave. During the year 1,768 such contracts were approv- ed, compared with 1,638 in 1963.