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Following is the speech by the Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr Stephen Ip, at the Special Finance Committee meeting on the Budget 2003-04 (labour session) today (March 26) (translation):

Chairman,

The government has been very concerned about the employment situation. In the face of high unemployment, an additional $270 million has been allocated in the Budget this year to ease unemployment with a view to helping about 18 000 people secure jobs.

The Labour Department launched the "Youth Pre-employment Training Programme" offering 12 000 pre-employment training places each year. Last July, we launched the "Youth Work Experience and Training Scheme" (YWETS) to provide on-the-job training for young people. It will provide about 10 000 on-the-job training places in two years. Besides, the Labour Department implemented the "Re-employment Pilot Programme for the Middle-aged" in 2001 and more than 5 000 people were successfully placed. Early this year, we announced that we would launch two new programmes in April 2003 to assist the middle-aged unemployed, namely, the "Re-employment Training Programme for the Middle-aged" and the "District Employment Programme for the Middle-aged". Additional funding of $50 million has now been earmarked to increase the capacity of the "Re-employment Training Programme for the Middle-aged" from 2 000 to 12 000. In addition, $26 million will be allocated to implement an attachment training scheme for 2 000 university graduates to enhance their employability. Through these programmes, the government will be providing employment support services on all fronts to people of different backgrounds, educational levels and age groups.

Apart from additional funding to help the unemployed re-enter the labour market, we will also step up inspection and enforcement to combat illegal employment to protect the job opportunities of our local workforce. With enhanced enforcement effort, the number of illegal workers prosecuted soared to about 8 600 in 2002, representing an increase of 56% over the figure in 2001. The number of employers prosecuted also rose to 383, 24% higher than that of 2001.

On the protection of employees' rights and benefits, we will strengthen enforcement action against employers breaching the wage provisions. At the end of last year, the Labour Department set up the new Employment Claims Investigation Unit. The Unit is tasked to investigate suspected wage offences so that we can promptly prosecute employers breaching the law. In the past five months, 121 summonses relating to wage offences were heard, representing an increase of 64% over the 74 summonses recorded in the corresponding period of the preceding year. As for summonses convicted, an increase of 84% over the corresponding period of the preceding year (56).

We believe that stepping up prosecution on wage offences could raise employers' awareness of their obligation to pay wages on time, as late payment of wages is a criminal offence which carries heavy penalties.

To combat underpayment of wages to foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) and overcharging FDHs of commission by local employment agencies, a special task force comprising representatives from the Labour Department, Immigration Department and Police has been set up to clamp down on such illegal practices.

We will also continue to adopt a proactive approach in combating abuse of the Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund. To this end, we set up in last November an inter-departmental task force. Since the setting up of the task force, the Labour Department has referred 10 cases involving suspected abuses of the Fund to the CCB and relevant departments for follow up action.

As regards occupational safety and health, our safety performance continued to show improvement last year. We believe that all parties concerned, including the Government, employers, contractors, employees, trade unions and safety and health professionals, must join hands to build a safety management culture.

Despite the reduction in the number of accidents, there is no ground for complacency. With drive and determination, we will continue to promote safety and health at work, through the three-pronged strategy of enforcement, publicity and education.

Looking ahead, our major tasks include the amendment of the Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations to hold sub-contractors criminally liable for safety offences, as in the case of the principal contractors. This will help to improve the safety performance of the sub-contractors. Moreover, to make the best use of resources, we will target our enforcement at the accident-prone trades and work processes, for example, working-at-height and scaffolding work.

Apart from bringing suffering and distress to the victims and their families, occupational injuries will also affect our production and operating costs. Therefore, we must try and collaborate with all parties concerned to help employers and employees reduce hazards in the workplace.

Thank you.

End/Wednesday, March 26, 2003

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