While the jobless rate has fallen, the employment situation is still full of challenges, the Secretary for Economic Development & Labour says. Since Hong Kong faces structural unemployment arising from economic restructuring, the unemployment rate is a lagging indicator.

Speaking at a special meeting of the Legislative Council's Finance Committee this morning, Stephen Ip said the Labour Department continues to receive an average of about 1,000 private-sector vacancies every working day and this has been the case for nearly two months. 

According to the latest statistics, the Labour Department received 26,427 private-ector vacancies and placed 6,822 job-seekers in employment in March, he said, adding that both figures are historic highs

In the face of persistently high unemployment, the Labour Department has strengthened its employment service and successfully placed in employment a record high of 66,100 job-seekers in 2003, he said.

However, he said, with an expanding labour force, there will still be pressure on employment in the short term.

Programmes aim to provide jobs, training

Mr Ip said the administration had earlier obtained the Finance Committee's approval to implement three employment measures at a cost of $1.2 billion to provide more than 22,000 short-term employment and training opportunities. 

These measures include:

* The provision of $300 million to extend the "Youth Work Experience and Training Scheme" to benefit 10,000 young people;

* Earmarking $30 million to launch the "Youth Self-employment Support Scheme" to provide assistance to 1,000 young people interested in self-employment; and

* The provision of about $880 million to extend 11,700 temporary jobs which are mostly suitable for the middle-aged with low education.

In addition, the "Youth Pre-employment Training Programme" will continue to provide 12,000 pre-employment training places for young people between the ages of 15 and 19.

The Labour Department provides the middle-aged with assistance through the "Re-employment Training Programme for the Middle-aged" and comprehensive employment services. The scheme still has about 9,000 unfilled places.

Hotline helps combat illegal employment

On combating illegal employment, Mr Ip said the Labour Department has widely publicised its complaint telephone hotline, 2815 2200,  to encourage the public to report illegal employment activities. 

The department has also strengthened its intelligence gathering for the purpose of launching more joint operations.

In 2003, the Labour Department, the Police and the Immigration Department conducted 36 joint operations, a 140% increase over the 15 joint operations in the preceding year. 

As a result of the relentless efforts of law-enforcement departments, 5,317 illegal workers and 1,078 employers were arrested in 2003.

In the first two months of this year, the enforcement departments arrested 816 illegal workers, 20% more than in the same period last year, and 185 employers, 21% more than they did a  year ago.