ENG-1985 — Page 112

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EMPLOYMENT

departments in the recruitment of non-pensionable staff such as artisans, drivers and labourers. The unit also co-ordinates employment services provided to large employers in the private sector with territory-wide recruitment needs. During the year, 39 534 people were successfully placed in employment including 3 367 who found jobs in the Civil Service.

The Special Register which gives free employment assistance to graduates of local and overseas universities and job-seekers possessing post-secondary or professional qualifica- tions was retitled the Higher Education Employment Service on August 1. During the year, 365 people found employment through this service.

The Selective Placement Service provides specialised employment placement assistance free of charge to physically handicapped and mentally handicapped persons as well as former mental patients. The employment placement needs of the socially maladjusted job-seekers are still the responsibility of the-Employment Service of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service and other voluntary agencies. During the year, the Selective Placement Service found work for 678 disabled persons.

Careers Service

The Youth Employment Advisory Service of the Labour Department provides careers guidance to young people through various programmes of activities. In 1985, officers of the service delivered 578 careers talks in 240 schools and 13 voluntary agencies covering an audience of 99 926. In addition, they organised six regional careers conventions together with the Hong Kong Association of Careers Masters and mounted the 14th large scale annual careers exhibition at the City Hall. This attracted 102 500 visitors.

To commemorate International Youth Year, the service organised in May and June the first formal Work Orientation Programme which comprised 24 visits to various establish- ments in the private and public sectors. Some 700 students from 23 secondary schools participated in the programme and had a glimpse of the world of work.

To improve careers education, the service organises training programmes for careers. teachers in co-operation with the Education Department, and also produces careers publications which are distributed free of charge to schools, youth centres and other interested parties or persons.

At present, the service operates three careers information centres, each equipped with a reference library as well as audio-visual recordings of employment and training oppor- tunities. In 1985, some 37 500 students and young people visited the centres and made use of the facilities there.

Overseas Employment

The Contracts for Overseas Employment Ordinance was amended in July. The amend- ments, which aimed at removing deficiencies and improving effectiveness, included the retitling of the ordinance as the Contracts for Employment Outside Hong Kong Ordin- ance to clarify its scope and the introduction of penalties for non-compliance with certain provisions.

Contracts entered into in Hong Kong between employers, or their authorised repre- sentatives, and manual workers proceeding outside Hong Kong for employment must be attested by the Commissioner for Labour before the workers leave Hong Kong. An employer or his agent who fails to comply with this provision is liable on con- viction to a fine of $50,000. During the year, 440 contracts were attested, compared with 834 in 1984.