ENG-2020 — Page 149

7

Employment

seekers with disabilities, Youth Employment and Training Programme, and Youth Employment Start. For major closure or retrenchment cases, it will set up a telephone hotline and special counters at job centres to provide priority job referral services for affected workers.

in 2020, the department registered 41,180 job-seekers and made over 126,000 job placements. It recorded 686,297 private-sector vacancies, 46.8 per cent less than in 2019.

Employment Programme for the Elderly and Middle-aged

The Employment Programme for the Elderly and Middle-aged encourages employers to hire the elderly and middle-aged and provide them with on-the-job training by paying employers an on-the-job training allowance. In light of the deteriorating employment situation, the monthly allowance was increased from September to $5,000 for engaging job-seekers aged 60 or above (payable for six to 12 months), and to $4,000 for engaging those aged 40 to 59 (payable for three to six months). There were 2,260 placements under the programme in 2020.

Work Trial Scheme

Work trials are conducted for people with difficulties in finding jobs. Each participant who completes a one-month full-time work trial receives $8,300 from the department, while the allowance for a part-time work trial is $49 per hour, of which $500 is contributed by the organisation in which the participant served. During the year, 320 people took part in the trials.

Individual-based Work Incentive Transport Subsidy Scheme

This scheme helps low-income earners reduce their cost of travelling to and from work and encourages them to secure and stay in employment. During the year, 23,381 applicants received the subsidy.

Racial Diversity Employment Programme

In November, two non-governmental organisations commissioned by the department started, on a pilot basis, the Racial Diversity Employment Programme. The programme provides one- stop employment support services to job-seekers from ethnic minorities in a case management approach, including canvassing suitable vacancies, assessing individual employment needs, assisting with job matching, providing pre-employment counselling and offering post- placement follow-up services for those employed and their employers.

People with Disabilities

The department helps people with disabilities who are fit for open employment to seek jobs. It provides free employment counselling and placement services to people who are formerly mentally ill or have hearing or visual impairment, physical handicap, chronic illness, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, specific learning difficulties or attention deficit/ hyperactivity disorder. In 2020, the department registered 2,478 job-seekers with disabilities and secured 1,741 placements.

The Work Orientation and Placement Scheme improves employment opportunities for people with disabilities by paying employers an allowance to encourage them to provide jobs and employment support. In September, the maximum allowance payable to an employer who

109