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The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, visited the Labour Department's Job Vacancy Processing Centre and Telephone Employment Service Centre today (May 27) to learn about the latest situation of job vacancies and wage levels after the implementation of the Minimum Wage Ordinance.
This was one of a series of visits carried out by Mr Cheung in relation to the implementation of the statutory minimum wage (SMW). During the past week, he also joined some labour inspectors in several workplace inspections to gain first-hand information on adaptation to the statutory minimum wage requirements by different trades.
He said, "Our labour inspectors have been actively conducting inspections to establishments since the law came into effect. Focusing on those low-paying sectors including catering, retail, security and cleaning services, etc, about 2,600 inspections have already been done so far.
"Apart from carrying out spot checks on workers' employment conditions, the inspectors would also emphasise education of the employers and employees in order to ensure that they understand their respective obligations and rights under the SMW requirements. The Labour Department will continue to strengthen their work in this aspect.
"In addition to law enforcement and publicity, the Government is keeping a close watch on any impact of the statutory minimum wage on the labour market. The Labour Department offers a comprehensive range of free employment services for employers and job seekers through its jobs centres, Telephone Employment Service Centre, Job Vacancy Processing Centre and Interactive Employment Service website."
Mr Cheung added, "A large-scale job fair has just been held in Tseung Kwan O in the past two days and we will hold another one in Tung Chung in July."
In today's visit, Mr Cheung was briefed on the latest situation of job vacancies and learnt that the number of new private sector vacancies received by the Labour Department per working day has stayed at a high level of about 3,000 on average. Up till yesterday, more than 55,000 vacancies have been received in May, reflecting a buoyant labour market. He also learnt that the Telephone Employment Service Centre alone handled around 18,000 calls in the first four months of this year.
Mr Cheung encouraged the staff to continue with their dedicated efforts in providing prompt and user-friendly services to the public.
During the visit, he was also briefed on the job fair held in Tseung Kwan O on May 25-26. Out of more than 3,900 job vacancies offered, over 3,000 were full-time jobs and the median wage was $9,000, up 23% from the job fair in the corresponding period of last year.
Mr Cheung learnt that more than 3,700 job seekers visited the job fair, with around 2,700 interviews arranged on-site and more than 420 persons hired on the spot. He was glad that the response from the employers was very positive.
Ends/Friday, May 27, 2011
Issued at HKT 15:39
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