ENG-1978 — Page 82

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EMPLOYMENT

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plastics; printing; shipbuilding and ship repairs; and textiles. The five committees examine problems common to more than one industry, such as apprenticeship, in- structor training, technical training in institutions, translating technical terms and vocational training. The training council also has two ad hoc committees training in the commercial and service sectors and the other on technologist training. The council submitted its fourth report to the Governor in June. The Training Council Division of the Labour Department is the secretariat of the training council.

During the year, manpower surveys were conducted by the five training boards covering printing, automobile repairs and servicing, shipbuilding and ship repairs, electronics and machine shop and metal working. The training council approved for publication several survey reports and manuals on job standards, model training programmes and trade tests, most of which are on sale at the Government Publica- tions Centre. The training council also published a report on technical manpower supply and demand 1977-82, which quantified for Hong Kong the overall demand for technical manpower at different levels in all branches of engineering and technology, and the supply from various technical institutions necessary to meet this demand.

The Clothing Industry Training Authority and the Construction Industry Training Authority were appointed by the Governor in September, 1975, pursuant to the Industrial Training (Clothing Industry) Ordinance and the Industrial Training (Con- struction Industry) Ordinance. The clothing industry authority is empowered to collect a training levy on the total export value of clothing items manufactured in, and exported from, Hong Kong; the construction industry authority collects a levy based on the value of all construction works undertaken in Hong Kong. The revenue is used to maintain respectively the Clothing Industry Training Centre and the Construction Industry Training Centre. These training centres provide practical train- ing in key occupations for the clothing and construction industries.

The Apprenticeship Ordinance, which came into effect in 1976, provides a legal framework for the training of craftsmen and technicians. The essence of the ordinance is that an employer, engaging a young person aged between 14 and 18 years in a designated trade, must enter into a contract of apprenticeship with him unless he has already completed an apprenticeship in that trade. This employer also must register the contract with the Commissioner for Labour. Employers of apprentices engaged in non-designated trades, or of apprentices over the age of 18 engaged in designated trades, also may send their contracts of apprenticeship to the Labour Department for voluntary registration. Eight craft trades were designated in 1978, bringing the total number of designated trades to 31. By the end of the year, there were 6,281 apprentices being trained in accordance with the ordinance.

The Apprenticeship Division of the Labour Department is responsible for admin- istering the ordinance. Its duties include: advising and assisting employers in the training and employment of apprentices; ensuring that the training of apprentices is properly carried out; conciliating in disputes arising out of a registered contract of apprenticeship; and co-operating with technical educational institutes to ensure that apprentices obtain the necessary complementary technical education.

Courses of instruction for apprentices, normally on a part-time day-release basis, are provided at technician level at the Hong Kong Polytechnic and at craft level at technical institutes.