Chapter 1 Highlights of Year 2020

1.1The labour market deteriorated sharply in 2020 as the economy experienced the most severe contraction on record due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate surged to 4.2% in the first quarter, and further to 6.2% in the second quarter and 6.6% in the fourth quarter, the highest in 16 years. The underemployment rate also soared to a post-SARS high of 3.8% in the third quarter and stayed elevated at 3.4% in the fourth quarter. For 2020 as a whole, the unemployment rate averaged 5.8%, 2.9 percentage points higher than in 2019, and the underemployment rate averaged 3.3%, also visibly higher by 2.2 percentage points. We will continue to closely monitor the labour market situation and enhance our employment services on all fronts, especially in netting suitable vacancies from the market and rendering assistance to job seekers.

Employment Services

Employment and Recruitment Services

1.2To help job seekers enter the labour market and respond speedily to the recruitment needs of employers, the Labour Department (LD) organises employment promotion activities at various locations across the territory. A total of three large-scale job fairs, two online job fairs and 586 district-based job fairs were organised in the year.

1.3The LD adopts a proactive approach in providing employment assistance. For example, in major business closure or redundancy cases, we set up enquiry hotlines and special counters at our job centres to provide special employment services to affected employees. In the year, the free recruitment service provided for employers by the LD recorded 688 939 vacancies from the private and public sectors; and 126 785 placements were secured.

Enhancing Employment Programmes

1.4In light of the deteriorating employment situation, the LD enhanced the Employment Programme for the Elderly and Middle-aged, the Youth Employment and Training Programme and the Work Orientation and Placement Scheme in September 2020 by raising the ceiling of the on-the-job training allowance payable to employers, with a view to encouraging employers to hire the elderly and middle-aged, young people and persons with disabilities. At the same time, the LD introduced retention allowance to encourage eligible employees participating in the programmes to undergo and complete on-the-job training, thereby stabilising employment.

Supporting Ethnic Minority Job Seekers

1.5To strengthen the employment support for ethnic minority job seekers, the LD has commissioned two non-governmental organisations to implement the Racial Diversity Employment Programme since November 2020.

Labour Relations

Promoting Harmonious Labour Relations

1.6To foster harmonious labour relations, the LD continued to adopt a proactive and pragmatic approach in helping employers and employees resolve their disagreements through communication and mutual understanding. In 2020, we handled a total of 85 labour disputes and 10 991 claims. Over 70% of cases with conciliation service rendered were resolved. The average waiting time for conciliation meetings was 2.4 weeks in the year.

Sustaining Vigorous Enforcement against Wage Offences

1.7In 2020, the LD sustained its all-out efforts to combat wage offences, including breaches of the Statutory Minimum Wage provisions. Territory-wide inspection campaigns targeted at offence-prone trades were launched by labour inspectors. Apart from proactive inspections to check compliance, we widely publicised our complaint hotline (2815 2200) and collected intelligence on non-payment of wages in various industries through an early warning system in collaboration with trade unions. We conducted prompt investigation into suspected wage offences so as to facilitate speedy prosecution.

1.8We continued to take out prosecution against employers and responsible individuals of companies for wage offences. We also strengthened our educational and promotional efforts to remind employers of their statutory obligation to pay wages on time and to encourage employees to lodge claims promptly and come forward as prosecution witnesses.

Enhancing Good Human Resource Management Practices and Harmonious Labour Relations

1.9The LD organised a wide range of promotional activities including exhibitions, seminars and talks to promote public understanding of labour laws and publicise employee-oriented and good human resource management measures. In 2020, seminars were conducted for human resources managers and corporate executives, including the promotion of effective workplace communication. We also organised the Good Employer Charter 2020 in the year to further encourage more employers in different industries to adopt good human resource management, including the implementation of family-friendly employment practices in the workplace.

Employees’ Rights and Benefits

Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW)

1.10In 2020, the LD organised a wide range of publicity activities to enhance public awareness of the SMW rate and the Minimum Wage Ordinance (MWO). To safeguard employees’ entitlement to the SMW, we also conducted proactive workplace inspections of various establishments and mounted targeted enforcement campaigns for low-paying sectors. Overall, the implementation of the SMW was smooth and the earnings of low-income employees continued to improve.

1.11The Minimum Wage Commission (MWC) is an independent statutory body established under the MWO with the main function of reporting to the Chief Executive in Council its recommendation about the SMW rate at least once in every two years. The MWC comprises a Chairperson and 12 Members drawn from the labour sector, business community, academia and the Government. In October 2020, the MWC submitted its report after completing a new round of review of the SMW rate. During the review, the Hong Kong economy was in a deep recession with an elevated unemployment rate and the economic outlook was faced with an unusually high degree of uncertainty. The MWC reached the majority consensus recommendation to maintain the prevailing SMW rate at $37.5 per hour until the next biennial review.

Safeguarding the Rights of Employees of Government Service Contractors

1.12The Government introduced improvement measures since April 2019 to enhance the protection of non-skilled employees engaged by government service contractors, such as increasing the technical weighting (including the marks assigned to wage level) in the marking schemes for tender evaluation, and requiring the contractors to pay contractual gratuity to the employees. The LD continued to step up inspections of workplaces to check government service contractors’ compliance with statutory requirements and the relevant improvement measures.

Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund

1.13The Protection of Wages on Insolvency Fund provides assistance in the form of ex gratia payment to eligible employees affected by insolvency of their employers. The LD continued its efforts in clamping down at source on employers evading their wage liabilities, thus preventing wage defaults from developing into claims on the fund.

Vigorous Enforcement against Illegal Employment

1.14The LD collaborated with the Police and the Immigration Department to combat illegal employment activities. A total of 34 joint operations were mounted in the year.

Working Hours Policy

1.15The LD continued to engage its 11 industry-based tripartite committees (including nine existing committees and two set up specifically to discuss working hours arrangements of the cleaning services and elderly homes industries) to formulate for these sectors working hours guidelines with suggested sector-specific working hours arrangements, overtime compensation arrangements and good working hours management measures for reference and adoption by employers and their employees.

Safety and Health at Work

Safety of Major Public Works Projects (PWPs)

1.16In light of the commencement of major PWPs (including major infrastructure projects), the LD continued to urge contractors to enhance construction site safety through stepping up inspection and enforcement, as well as promotion and education. These included conducting in-depth surprise inspections of major PWP sites with high risk processes or poor safety performance to scrutinise the safe system of work and safety management system of duty holders. We continued to participate actively in site safety management committee meetings of major PWPs to keep close tabs on the projects’ occupational safety and health (OSH) conditions and risks, with a view to devising more focused inspection strategies accordingly. During the meetings, we gave advice on work processes of higher risk and urged the contractors and relevant duty holders to conduct risk assessments, devise safe working method statements and implement safety measures as early as possible. We also strengthened the coordination with the Development Bureau, works departments and other public works project clients to enhance the site safety measures of major PWPs, with a view to ensuring more effective control of risks by contractors. We also launched enforcement operations with the Marine Department on sea-based construction works to deter work practices from contravening safety requirements.

Safety of Renovation, Maintenance, Alteration and Addition (RMAA) Works

1.17The volume of RMAA works is expected to grow further with the continuous ageing of buildings in Hong Kong and the implementation of mandatory requirements for inspection of buildings and windows by the Government.

1.18In light of serious accidents that happened from time to time in RMAA works in recent years, the LD has established a number of dedicated offices to monitor the OSH of RMAA works and stepped up inspection and enforcement efforts to deter contractors from adopting unsafe work practices, so as to enhance the occupational safety condition of RMAA works. Territory-wide special enforcement operations on RMAA works with emphasis on high risk processes, such as work-at-height, truss-out scaffolding works, lifting operations and electrical work were also launched. During the special operations, 561 suspension/improvement notices were issued and 330 prosecutions were taken out.

1.19On the fronts of education and promotion, we organised a series of intensive promotion and publicity campaigns, targeting RMAA works, as well as the related work-at-height and electrical work to arouse the safety awareness of all parties involved. These included launching a two-year publicity campaign in 2020 in collaboration with the Occupational Safety and Health Council (OSHC) with a wide range of initiatives seeking to reach contractors and workers engaged in RMAA works more effectively and to impress upon them the importance of work safety. We also partnered with the Home Affairs Department and the property management sector to organise publicity and promotional activities to promulgate work safety at the district level.

1.20In 2020, the LD organised in collaboration with the OSHC a series of safety webinars concerning RMAA works and work-at-height to engage industry stakeholders in exploring means to further enhance construction safety. To encourage contractors of the RMAA industry to use suitable working platforms for work-above-ground, the LD in collaboration with the OSHC and the Hong Kong Association of Property Management Companies actively intensified the Pilot Partnership Scheme on Promotion of Light-duty Working Platforms by Property Management Companies to encourage contractors and workers conducting RMAA works in relevant estates or residential buildings to use suitable step platforms and hop-up platforms (light-duty working platforms).

Safety Promotional Campaigns

1.21In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the LD suspended the safety award schemes for the catering and construction industries in 2020 to prevent the risk of spreading the virus as a result of group gatherings. However, with a view to continuing with the effort to maintain the momentum of the industries on OSH improvement, the LD launched the new “Catering Industry Safety Promotional Campaign” and “Construction Industry Safety Promotional Campaign” to enhance the work safety and health awareness of employers and employees.

Strengthening Publicity of OSH Complaints Channels

1.22In order to facilitate employees and members of the public to lodge complaints against OSH malpractices more conveniently, the LD launched the online OSH complaint platform in 2019 to facilitate complainants to lodge complaints by using online forms accessible to mobile electronic devices such as smart phones, tablets and laptops on unsafe working conditions and environments at workplaces. Upon receiving the complaints, the LD will, having regard to their nature and content, conduct investigations and follow-up actions as soon as possible with a view to preventing occurrence of accidents. We will continue to make use of various channels to publicise the online complaint platform to employees of different industries, including broadcast of TV and Radio Announcements in the Public Interest, distribution of posters, and through the platforms of OSH training course providers and workers registration service centres.

Work Safety Alert Animation

1.23The LD continued to produce Work Safety Alert in the form of animation videos to enable the industry to better comprehend how some accidents happened and the necessary safety measures to be taken to prevent recurrence of such accidents. Five animation videos were produced, and uploaded to the LD’s website and disseminated through various channels in 2020.

Continuous Refinement of Mandatory Safety Training (MST) Courses

1.24In 2020, the LD launched the revamped Safety Training Courses of Gas Welding and Safety Training Courses for Persons Working on Suspended Working Platforms to further strengthen workers’ knowledge of the associated risks and emergency preparedness. We also continued to conduct different modes of inspections to enhance the monitoring of course quality.

Establishment of Central Promotion Team

1.25The Occupational Health Service of the LD set up a Central Promotion Team in August 2020. Targeting at the retail industry, catering industry and property management industry, the team conducted promotional visits to 36 large corporations and gave advice to the employers to follow the requirements of the LD’s guideline to further reduce health risks associated with standing at work. The team also conducted promotional visits to five cleaning contractors of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department on heat stroke prevention.

Prevention of Heat Stroke at work

1.26In addition to inspection and enforcement, the LD continued to enhance employers’ and workers’ awareness of heat stroke through promotion and education, such as launching a large-scale promotion campaign, organising health talks, publicising through the media and organising outreach promotional activities in collaboration with different stakeholders.

Pilot Rehabilitation Programme for Employees Injured at Work

1.27In 2020, the LD continued to prepare for the launch of a three-year Pilot Rehabilitation Programme for Employees Injured at Work targeting injured employees from the construction industry, including drawing up the service protocols and operational details of the pilot programme. Subject to the time required for the preparatory work, we aim to launch the pilot programme as soon as possible in 2022.

Contacts with Other Labour Administrations

1.28Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the LD mainly maintained liaison and interflows with other labour administrations through electronic means in 2020.