The Labour Department made record-breaking achievements last year by adopting a proactive and pragmatic approach in tackling its challenges, Permanent Secretary for Economic Development & Labour Matthew Cheung says.

"Last year was an exceptionally difficult year. The continued downturn of the local economy, combined with the outbreak of SARS, dealt a great blow to Hong Kong, pushing the unemployment rate to an all-time high of 8.7% in the summer and straining labour relations," he said.

Reviewing the department's work, Mr Cheung said it successfully placed into jobs a record 66,100 people - 6% more than 2002.

At the same time, an all-time high number of job vacancies (225,106) were solicited by the department - up 7% on 2002.

Other record-breaking employment services include:

* a record 215,367 job vacancies solicited from the private sector - up 4.9%;

* a record 5,647 job vacancies solicited for people with a disability - up 8.7%; and,

* a record single-month placement of 6,739 job-seekers in October.

"In combating illegal employment, we mounted 36 inter-departmental joint operations with the Police and the Immigration Department, another historical high and an increase of 140% over 2002," Mr Cheung said.