ENG-2007 — Page 183

Employment ❘ 135

By the end of 2007, more than 9 900 classes had been held and more than 199 700 training places were provided under the scheme. The environmental hygiene industry joined the scheme in 2007, bringing to 25 the number of industries under the scheme.

Youth Pre-employment Training Programme

The 2006-2007 schedule of the Youth Pre-employment Training Programme (YPTP) in which 6 500 trainees took part, ended in October. Launched in 1999, the YPTP was drawn up to enhance the employability of school leavers, aged between 15 and 19, through employment-related training, workplace attachment, counselling and support services. The 2007-08 programme is being carried out in two phases. The first phase, which started in September, attracted over 3 500 participants.

Youth Work Experience and Training Scheme

The Labour Department launched the Youth Work Experience and Training Scheme (YWETS) in July 2002 to provide six to 12 months of on-the-job training for people aged between 15 and 24, with no university degree. It keeps in touch with employers in the private and public sectors to see if they have training vacancies.

The Labour Department also commissions non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to carry out induction courses for these young people and to help them plan their careers, identify jobs that suit them, prepare them for job interviews, and to help them adapt to their working environment after they had secured their jobs.

By year-end, 36 326 young people were receiving training and 17 690 got jobs on the open market.

To enable them to get the most out of their training, apprentices are allowed to move between the YPTP and YWETS at different stages of their training.

Under the 2007-08 programme, trainees taking a YPTP modular training course, or YWETS induction course, who have an attendance rate of higher than 80 per cent, are given a transport allowance.

Employees Retraining Scheme

The Employees Retraining Board (ERB) was set up under the Employees Retraining Ordinance in 1992 to help eligible workers adjust to changes in the economic environment. It is a statutory body comprising employer and employee representatives, and people carrying out work on vocational training, retraining and manpower planning, as well as government officials. In addition to receiving a regular income from a levy from labour importation schemes, the ERB received a recurrent subvention from the Government which, in 2007-08, amounted to some $365 million.

Since its inception 15 years ago, the ERB had been helping workers, displaced as a result of economic restructuring, to re-enter the job market through retraining. It concentrated mainly on assisting those aged 30 or above with no more than lower secondary education.