ENG-2005 — Page 173

Employment | 139

Kong also attended other seminars and workshops organised by the ILO during the

year.

Labour Advisory Board

The Labour Advisory Board is a high-level and fully representative tripartite advisory body with members from the employee and employer sectors as well as the Government. It advises the Permanent Secretary for Economic Development and Labour (Labour) on matters affecting labour, including legislation and conventions and recommendations of the ILO. The Labour Advisory Board comprises 12 members, six representing employers and six representing employees. The Permanent Secretary for Economic Development and Labour (Labour) is the ex officio chairman.

The board has five committees and one working group on special subjects which cover employees' compensation, employment services, occupational safety and health, labour relations, the implementation of international labour standards and the processing of applications for labour importation under the Supplementary Labour Scheme.

Employment Services

The Labour Department provides a range of free employment and recruitment services to job-seekers and employers through a network of 10 district-based Job Centres, a Telephone Employment Service Centre, a Central Recruitment Unit and a Job Vacancy Processing Centre. Job-seekers can make use of facilities such as vacancy search terminals, telephones, fax machines and computers with internet connection in the Job Centres. Employment services are also available on the Internet round-the- clock through the Interactive Employment Services (IES) website (www.jobs.gov.hk), which is the Government's most popular website. The website recorded over 869 million page views in 2005 and won the Champion of 2005 Civil Service Outstanding Service Award Scheme e-Service Team Award. The department also organises special recruitment activities such as large-scale and district-level job fairs, and recruitment seminars to assist job-seekers to find jobs and employers recruit staff.

During the year, 208 578 job-seekers registered with the Labour Department. An all-time high of 425 952 private sector vacancies were received, up 43 per cent over the level of 297 186 in 2004. The department also achieved a historic high job placement figure of 113 090 in 2005, up 31 per cent over 86 257 in 2004.

Employment Programme for the Middle-aged

The Employment Programme for the Middle-aged was launched in May 2003 to assist unemployed job-seekers aged 40 or above to secure employment. Employers who engage middle-aged, jobless people and give them on-the-job training receive a training allowance of $1,500 per month per trainee for up to three months. At year-end, a total of 18 040 job-seekers had been employed under the programme.

Work Trial Scheme

The Work Trial Scheme was launched in June 2005 to enhance the employability of job-seekers who have special difficulties in finding jobs. There is no age limit for