ENG-1966 — Page 57

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EMPLOYMENT

apprenticeships in traditional Chinese crafts has diminished because of readily available employment in modern factories.

By an amendment in 1965 to the Employers and Servants Ordin- ance 1961, any apprenticeship contract for a period of six months or more is deemed to be a contract for one month renewable from month to month unless it has been attested by the Commissioner of Labour within one month after it was made.

WAGES AND CONDITIONS OF WORK

Most semi-skilled and unskilled workers in the manufacturing industry are on daily rates of pay, although piece rates are also quite common. While men and women receive the same rates of pay for piece work, women are generally paid less than men when engaged on a time basis. Wages may be calculated on an hourly, daily, or monthly basis and are customarily paid weekly or twice monthly.

The range of daily wages for the manufacturing industry at the end of 1966 was: $8.50 to $28.00 for skilled workers; $5.50 to $21.00 for semi-skilled; and $4.80 to $12.00 for unskilled. Many employers provide their workers with free accommodation, subsidized meals or food allowances, good attendance bonuses and paid rest days as well as a Chinese New Year bonus of one month's pay.\ =

A new consumer price index, intended to replace the older and outdated retail price index as an indicator of the effects of price changes on household expenditure, was published throughout the year. It varied from 103 to 110 (base of 100-period September 1963 to August 1964). In December 1966 it stood at 105. The 1965 Salaries Commission, the adoption of whose report is dealt with in Chapter 22, recommended that a special index based on the expenditure of households spending less than $600 a month should be published and used as the basis for monthly adjustment in the salaries of minor staff. In accordance with this recommendation a separate index, known as the Modified Consumer Price Index, was devised for publication. A proportion of the wages of minor staff (Scale 1) in the Public Service is adjusted monthly by reference to this index.

The Factories and Industrial Undertakings Ordinance is the basis for the control of hours and conditions of work in industry.