ENG-2006 — Page 173

Employment | 141

meet local manpower needs and to enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness in the world market. (Further details of this scheme are given in Chapter 20).

Employment of Mainland Graduates with Hong Kong Degrees

Mainland students who have graduated from institutions funded by the University Grants Committee (UGC) since 1990 may be admitted for employment, provided they possess special skills or knowledge of value to, but not readily available in Hong Kong and who are paid salaries broadly commensurate with those on the open market. This scheme was extended in July 2005 to those who studied at non-UGC-funded institutions during the academic year 2005-06 and thereafter, and who obtained degrees or higher accreditations from local institutions where they studied full-time. The aim of this arrangement is to attract outstanding Mainland students who have completed full-time degree or higher level courses to re-enter Hong Kong for employment.

Supplementary Labour Scheme

Under the Supplementary Labour Scheme, employers may apply to import workers to fill vacancies at technician level or below. The Government's policy on importation of labour is based on two cardinal principles:

• local workers must be given priority in filling job vacancies available in the job market; and

employers who are genuinely unable to recruit local workers to fill their job vacancies should be allowed to import workers.

All applications under the scheme are considered on a case-by-case basis. To ensure priority of employment for local workers, each application to import workers has to pass three tests before it is submitted to the Labour Advisory Board for consideration and to the Government for a decision. These tests are: advertising in newspapers, job-matching by the Labour Department for four weeks, and organising retraining courses with the assistance of the Employees Retraining Board for local workers, if appropriate.

In early 2006, a series of measures under the Supplementary Labour Scheme was introduced as a pilot exercise for the textiles and clothing industry to facilitate a more flexible importation of skilled workers that Hong Kong was lacking.

As at the end of 2006, there were 1 144 imported workers working in Hong Kong.

Foreign Domestic Helpers

Foreign domestic helpers may be admitted subject to the conditions that they have relevant working experience, and that their employers are Hong Kong residents who are prepared to offer reasonable terms of employment including suitable accommodation and wages not lower than the level of the minimum allowable wage set by the Government. Their employers must also be willing to provide for their maintenance and the cost of their passage home. Employers must also satisfy requirements on income and assets.

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