ENG-2002 — Page 184

EMPLOYMENT

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Skills Upgrading Scheme

The Finance Committee approved in June 2001 the allocation of $400 million for the provision of focused skills training for workers with secondary, or below, education. In addition to the six sectors (printing, Chinese catering, textiles/clothing, import/export, transport and retail) initially selected for the pilot phase of the scheme, seven more industries were added in 2002. These new industries include tourism, hairdressing, electrical and engineering, property management, insurance, hotels and real estate agents. By year-end, 16 700 trainees had completed training under the scheme.

Youth Pre-employment Training Programme

The Youth Pre-employment Training Programme was first launched in 1999 to enhance the employability of school leavers aged 15 to 19 through a wide range of employment-related training, workplace attachment, careers counselling and support services. The third programme was concluded in July 2002. Over 12 700 trainees participated in the programme. Survey findings showed that the programme has received widespread support from trainees, employers and training bodies.

The fourth programme, for 2002-03, is being delivered in two phases. The first phase, which commenced in September 2002, attracted some 6 200 participants.

Employees Retraining Scheme

The Employees Retraining Scheme (ERS) was launched in 1992 to provide retraining to eligible workers to assist them in taking on new or enhanced skills so that they can adjust to changes in the economic environment. It is administered by the Employees Retraining Board (ERB) which is a statutory body set up under the Employees Retraining Ordinance, comprising representatives from employers, employees, persons related to vocational training and retraining or manpower planning as well as the Government. In addition to regular income from a levy collected under the labour importation schemes, the Government provided a recurrent subvention of $400 million in 2001-02 and $396 million in 2002-03.

The ERS focuses on assisting displaced workers who have experienced difficulties in seeking alternative employment. The main target group of the scheme is displaced workers aged 30 or over with no more than lower secondary education. The scheme offers a wide variety of full-time and part-time courses delivered through a network of over 50 approved training bodies. The courses broadly fall into seven categories: courses on job search skills, job-specific skills, general skills (computer and vocational languages), courses for the elderly, courses for people with disabilities, tailor-made courses and self-employment courses.

During the year, 60 600 full-time and 56 900 part-time retraining places were provided under the ERS. The two Retraining Resource Centres, one in Yau Ma Tei and the other in Lok Fu, continued to provide self-learning facilities, job market information and other supporting services to all graduate retrainees. The objective is to reinforce the effectiveness of the ERS and foster the concept of lifelong learning. The ERB has introduced a number of new initiatives to help unemployed workers to re-enter the labour market. These include the provision of full-time or part-time courses on self-employment and business start-up, with a complementary Self- employment Business Start-up Assistance Scheme which allows graduate retrainees to