August 08, 2011

Secretary for Labour & Welfare Matthew Cheung today encouraged trainees taking certificate courses as personal and post-natal care workers to make good use of their training to equip themselves for the employment opportunities arising from the heavy demand for the posts.
 
Mr Cheung offered the advice during his visit this morning to the Young Women’s Christian Association in Sha Tin, which runs the courses under the auspices of the Employees Retraining Board.
 
“With an ageing population in Hong Kong, elderly homes have a great need for manpower. As the Government has been allocating more resources in recent years to provide a wider range of community and homecare services, there is growing demand for employees with homecare and healthcare knowledge.”
 
Mr Cheung said the demand for post-natal caregivers is also on the rise because of the increasing number of nuclear families. A key factor for the growing demand is the graduates have a good reputation for providing professional services and have built up clients’ trust in them.
 
Among courses offered by the board, 1,071 have been awarded the personal care worker certificate while 2,514 have been awarded the post-natal care workers certificate. The placement rate of the former was 89% and the latter 86%.
 
In 2011-12, the board is offering 1,250 and 3,352 training places for personal care workers and post-natal care workers.
 
Mr Cheung also visited a class of the Certificate in Advanced Security & Property Management course and learned about the retraining and employment support services provided by the Young Women’s Christian Association.