ENG-2001 — Page 182

EMPLOYMENT

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With the experience gained in the pilot scheme for the catering trade, the council has expanded the OSH Enhancement Scheme for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises to the printing and the car-repairing industries to provide seed funding and consultancy services to improve their work safety and health standards.

The Occupational Safety and Health Gallery at the Hong Kong Science Museum enables students and visitors to obtain safety information and knowledge through the interactive exhibits.

Employment Services

The Employment Services Division (ESD) of the Labour Department provides free recruitment assistance to employers and placement service to job seekers through 11 Job Centres. Two of them are employment and guidance centres for new arrivals. Through the Job Matching Programme, the division conducts briefings, and provides an intensive job-matching and counselling service to unemployed job-seekers.

The division also operates the Outreaching Placement Service which offers a registration service at the workplace to the affected workers in major retrenchments. Promotional activities such as job bazaars and exhibitions are organised under the Employment Information and Promotion Programme.

The Labour Department continues to enhance the quality of its service. During the year, three Job Centres were reprovisioned and job-seekers are provided with a more spacious and comfortable service environment.

The Interactive Employment Service (iES) provides two-way round-the-clock service for employers and job-seekers on the Internet and attracted a total of 124 141 787 hits during the year. Through the iES, employers can submit their vacancies to the Labour Department on-line and short-list suitable candidates for selection interviews while job-seekers can register on-line, generate resumes and look for suitable vacancies.

Helping the Disabled Find Jobs

The Selective Placement Division of the Labour Department helps people with a disability integrate into the community through open employment. It provides a free employment counselling and placement service for the hearing impaired, sight impaired, physically handicapped, chronically ill, ex-mentally ill and mentally handicapped. In 2001, the division launched a series of activities to promote the employment of people with a disability. It recorded 4 128 job-seekers with a disability and achieved 2 348 placements.

Careers Guidance

The Careers Advisory Service of the Labour Department, through the promotion of careers education, helps young people to choose a career best suited to their talents, interests and abilities and also supports careers teachers with back-up information. The public can also access careers information published by the service through its web site.

Throughout the year, the service organised career talks and arranged student group visits to its Careers Information Centres and various commercial and industrial establishments. Its Education and Careers Expo 2001 attracted over 180 000 visitors while a total of 156 155 students took part in its Careers Quiz 2001.