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The Recruitment Centre for the Retail Industry (RCRI) is the second industry-based recruitment centre operated by the Labour Department and is modelled on the Recruitment Centre for the Catering Industry (RCCI) which opened in February last year, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, said today (June 22).
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the new recruitment centre, Mr Cheung said that the RCCI was set up by the Government as a swift and exceptional response to the expansion and hiring plans of some catering employers amid the global financial tsunami last year.
In view of the success of the RCCI, the Government has decided to extend the new tailor-made service mode to the retail industry.
Mr Cheung said, "The Labour Department hopes to further strengthen its 'matchmaker' role in helping both retail employers and job-seekers through central processing of job vacancies and on-the-spot interviews.
"We hope to speed up the job-matching process so that the period of unemployment can be shortened, thus relieving the financial pressure caused by unemployment."
Mr Cheung noted that the latest unemployment rate for March to May was 4.6%, and the retail industry saw an increase in the number of unemployed.
"It is noteworthy that the increase was mainly due to more people leaving jobs voluntarily, rather than being dismissed or laid off," he added.
In fact, the retail industry is one of the major sources of private sector vacancies received by the Labour Department. A total of 27,921 retail vacancies was posted in the first five months this year, up 33.7% on the 20,889 vacancies over the same period in 2009. In May this year alone, 5,896 vacancies from the retail industry were posted at the Labour Department, an increase of nearly 70% (66.9%) from the 3,532 vacancies in the same period last year.
The Permanent Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Paul Tang Kwok-wai, and the Commissioner for Labour, Mrs Cherry Tse, also attended the opening ceremony. Mrs Tse said that the new recruitment centre provided a free-of-charge and convenient recruitment platform for retail employers and job-seekers. She said job-seekers were welcome to visit the centre and use the modern facilities in their job search.
The Labour Department and the Hong Kong Retail Management Association jointly launched today a recruitment fortnight at the RCRI. Altogether 36 retail enterprises will conduct on-the-spot recruitment activities during the period, offering a total of 1,500 vacancies. Job-seekers can register for employment services as well as submit applications at the centre and may attend job interviews on-the-spot. Details of the vacancies are available on the department's "Interactive Employment Service" website (www.jobs.gov.hk). Job-seekers may also call the RCRI's hotline 2594 7833 for enquiries and job interview reservations.
The Recruitment Centre for the Retail Industry is located at 34/F, Revenue Tower, 5 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai. The recruitment centre occupies a floor area of 100 square metres. There are five interview rooms that can accommodate 60 job-seekers at one time. The recruitment centre opens from Mondays to Fridays between 9am and 5.30pm and between 9am and noon on Saturdays.
Ends/Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Issued at HKT 13:01
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