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LCQ8: Job fairs for retail industry
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     Following is a question by the Hon Kwok Wai-keung and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, in the Legislative Council today (November 5):

Question:

     Regarding the two job fairs organised by the Labour Department from September 18 to 19 and from October 21 to 23 this year respectively, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the number of retail establishments participating in the two aforesaid job fairs, with a tabulated breakdown by type of product/ retailer (including cosmetics, watch, clock and jewellery, fashion and accessories, general merchandise, electronic and electrical/ telecommunication products, furniture and home accessories, food, health and beauty chains, supermarkets and convenience stores);

(2) of the respective numbers of full-time and part-time job vacancies offered in the two aforesaid job fairs, and set out in Table 1 and Table 2 a breakdown by salary and academic qualifications required;

(3) whether it knows the details of the eligibility requirements and remuneration package of the retail jobs offered in the aforesaid job fairs, and set out a breakdown of such details using tables of the same format as Table 3 and Table 4 by type of product/ retailer and rank of post, including (i) number of job vacancies, (ii) number of job vacancies requiring applicants to have work experience, (iii) maximum and minimum academic qualifications required, (iv) highest and lowest salaries, (v) maximum and minimum numbers of days of annual leave, (vi) maximum and minimum numbers of weekly work hours, (vii) number of job vacancies with a five-day week work pattern, (viii) number of job vacancies with a commission or sales bonus scheme, and (ix) number of job vacancies with a year-end bonus scheme, and

(4) whether it knows, among the establishments participating in the aforesaid job fairs, the number of those which have joined the Pilot Earn-and-Learn Scheme (the Scheme) co-organised by the Vocational Training Council and the retail industry, the types of retailers to which they mainly belong, and the number of internship jobs they have offered for the Scheme?

Reply:

President,

     My reply to the question raised by the Hon Kwok Wai-keung is as follows:

(1) The Labour Department (LD) organised three job fairs dedicated for the retail industry on September 18 and 19 and October 21 (Note) this year. Altogether 74 retail establishments participated. A breakdown of these participating establishments by type of product/ retailer is provided in the table below:

Type of Product/             Number of Participating
Retailer                         Establishments
----------------             -----------------------
Cosmetics                                4
Watch, clock and jewellery               5
Fashion and accessories                  25
General merchandise                      7
Electronic and electrical/               4
telecommunication products               
Furniture and home accessories           6
Food                                     10
Health and beauty chains                 4
Supermarkets                             3
Convenience stores                       0
Others                                   6

Note: The job fairs held on October 22 and 23 covered establishments from other industries.

(2) The three aforesaid job fairs altogether offered 3 542 full-time and 1 661 part-time job vacancies in the retail industry. The breakdowns by salary and academic qualifications required are provided in Annex 1 and Annex 2.

(3) The participating establishments had to confirm with LD that the wage level of the job vacancies offered would comply with the requirements of the Minimum Wage Ordinance. As the participating establishments provided a large number of job vacancies, they were not required to provide LD with details of the eligibility requirements and remuneration package of the vacancies offered, while job seekers could seek detailed information on the job vacancies from the participating establishments on the spot. LD does not keep statistics on the breakdown of the eligibility requirements and remuneration package by type of product/retailer and by rank of post offered by the participating establishments.

     For job vacancies offered at the job fairs, LD would release overall statistics covering salaries offered, academic requirements and work experience required for the reference of job seekers. Regarding the three aforesaid job fairs, around 68% of the vacancies were full-time posts. Most vacancies offered monthly salaries ranging from $8,000 to $15,000. About 99% of the vacancies required a Secondary Six education level or below. Around 60% of the vacancies did not require relevant work experience.
 
(4) Of the participating establishments of the aforesaid job fairs, seven have joined the Pilot Earn-and-Learn Scheme (the Scheme) co-organised by the Vocational Training Council and the retail industry. These establishments cover retail categories of fashion and accessories; general merchandise; electronic and electrical/ telecommunication products; furniture and home accessories; health and beauty chains; and supermarkets. LD does not have information on how many internship jobs were provided by these establishments to the Scheme.

Ends/Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Issued at HKT 14:25

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