ENG-1998 — Page 169

CHAPTER 7 EMPLOYMENT

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A well-trained and adaptable workforce underpins Hong Kong's present and future economic success. To this end, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government seeks to identify the current and future manpower needs and meet these needs through training, retraining and upgrading the skills of the workforce. At a time of high unemployment, the government continues to provide a comprehensive and effective employment service to help the unemployed to re-enter the workforce as soon as possible and minimise the duration of unemployment. At the same time, the government also recognises the need to promote good employer and employee relations, to enhance employees' rights and benefits in a way which is commensurate with Hong Kong's socio-economic development, and to protect their safety and health at work.

In June 1998, the government set up a Task Force on Employment, led by the Financial Secretary, to look into the problem of local employment and to explore ways and means of facilitating greater job creation. It comprised representatives from the business and employee sectors, academia and training institutions and senior government officials. Since its establishment, it has advanced government projects, strengthened employment services, enhanced vocational training and employees retraining and tightened measures to combat illegal employment. Some 38 000 jobs were created in the second half of 1998. Over 30 000 people were placed in jobs through the Local Employment Service of the Labour Department last year. In addition, the training capacity of the Employees Retraining Board was increased by 30 per cent, enabling 78 000 people to benefit from retraining programmes.

In 1998, the government made substantial improvements to employees' rights, benefits and health through a series of labour laws:

• The Employees' Compensation Ordinance and the Pneumoconiosis (Compensation) Ordinance were amended to raise the levels of compensation payable to injured employees and pneumoconiosis sufferers respectively.

• The Occupational Deafness (Compensation) Ordinance was amended to give effect to a package of improvements to the Occupational Deafness Compensation Scheme arising from a comprehensive review of the scheme. The improvements aimed at expanding the scheme's coverage and streamlining its operational procedures.

Labour Market

In the third quarter of 1998, the labour force grew by 5.9 per cent over the corresponding period of 1997. The labour force of Hong Kong stood at 3.4 million,

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