Chapter 6
Employment
The government facilitates employment, safeguards workers' rights and benefits, ensures workplaces are safe and healthy, and promotes harmonious employer- employee relations.
Hong Kong's hard-working, adaptable workforce is among its most valued resources and a key contributing factor to the city's economic competitiveness. The labour market further improved in 2013, but the continuing uncertain global economic situation presents challenges which the government has adopted various strategies to meet. These include upgrading workers' skills to make them more employable and competitive, improving the business environment, introducing measures to create jobs and enhancing labour market efficiency.
In 2013, the Employees Retraining Board offered over 130,000 training places to help in-service workers to upgrade their skills, and to help those seeking job change and the unemployed to re-enter the labour market. The government also continued to offer special help to the less competitive workers. The Labour Department assists job seekers to enter or re-enter the labour market through a number of employment initiatives, including the Employment Programme for the Middle-aged, the Work Trial Scheme, the Youth Employment and Training Programme, the Youth Employment Start, the Work Orientation and Placement Scheme for job seekers with disabilities, and job fairs.
The government promotes harmonious employer-employee relations, protects employees' rights and benefits, and safeguards employees' safety and health at work.
Labour Market Situation
Hong Kong's labour force totalled 3.86 million people in 2013, representing a rise of 1.9 per cent over 2012. In 2013, 51.6 per cent of the labour force were men and 48.4 per cent were women.
The majority, or 88.3 per cent, were employed in the service sectors: 31.6 per cent in the import/ export, wholesale and retail trades, and accommodation (covering hotels, guesthouses, boarding houses and other establishments providing short-term accommodation) and food
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