Chapter 5 Employment Services

The Programme of Employment Services

www.labour.gov.hk/eng/service/content.htm

5.1The objective of the Employment Services Programme is to provide comprehensive and free employment assistance and recruitment services to help job seekers find suitable jobs and employers fill their vacancies. We achieve this by:

• providing user-friendly employment and recruitment services to job seekers and employers;
• offering dedicated employment-related assistance and personalised services to vulnerable groups of unemployed people;
• assisting young people to enhance their employability and advising them on careers choice;
• regulating local employment agencies;
• safeguarding the interests of local employees employed by employers outside Hong Kong to work in other territories; and
• processing applications under the Supplementary Labour Scheme/ Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme and ensuring employment priority for local workers in filling vacancies under the scheme.

5.2The principal legislation administered by this programme area includes Part XII of the Employment Ordinance (EO), the Employment Agency Regulations made under the EO and the Contracts for Employment Outside Hong Kong Ordinance (CEOHKO).

5.3Part XII of the EO, together with the Employment Agency Regulations, regulates the operation of employment agencies in Hong Kong through licensing, inspection, investigation and prosecution.

5.4The CEOHKO safeguards the interests of local manual employees and those non-manual employees with monthly wages not exceeding $20,000 who are employed by employers outside Hong Kong to work in other territories through the attestation of employment contracts of these persons.

Our Work and Achievements in 2023

Employment Situation in Hong Kong

5.5The labour market improved in 2023 along with the local economic recovery. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate declined from 3.5% in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 2.8% and 2.9% in the third and fourth quarters of 2023. The underemployment rate declined from 1.5% in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 1.0% in both the third and fourth quarters of 2023. For updated statistics on the labour force, unemployment rate and underemployment rate, please visit the webpage: www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/web_table.html?id=6.

5.6The Labour Department (LD) recorded 1 171 645 vacancies offered by employers of the private sector for free recruitment service in 2023. In the year, a total of 153 488 placements were secured (Appendices 5.1 and 5.2).

A Wider Service Choice

Job Centres

5.7Job seekers can browse vacancies at job centres of the LD and seek referral service provided by the staff or apply to the employers direct. Job seekers can meet with employment officers to obtain personalised employment advisory services. Employment officers will also assist job seekers to join the employment programmes of the LD. Various facilities such as digital display system, touchscreen vacancy search terminals, fax machines, toll-free telephones, computers connected to the Internet and resource corners are available for the use by job seekers.

Industry-based Recruitment Centres

5.8The three industry-based recruitment centres of the LD, namely the Recruitment Centre for the Catering Industry, the Recruitment Centre for the Retail Industry and the Construction Industry Recruitment Centre, provide free as well as one-stop and on-the-spot recruitment services for employers and job seekers, enhancing the efficiency of recruitment and job search.

Telephone Employment Service

5.9Job seekers registered at the LD may call our Telephone Employment Service Centre on 2969 0888 for job referral service. Through conference calls, staff of the centre can make arrangement for job seekers to talk to employers direct.

Online Employment Services

5.10The LD's Interactive Employment Service (iES) website (www.jobs.gov.hk) provides round-the-clock online employment services and comprehensive employment information. The iES website is the most popular government job board in Hong Kong, recording around 390 million page views in 2023. It hosts a number of thematic webpages to provide dedicated employment information for specific clientele. Job seekers can also use the iES mobile application anytime and anywhere to look for suitable vacancies in the job vacancy database of the LD and receive notifications on newly posted vacancies matched by the system according to their pre-set search criteria. The mobile application recorded around 258 million hit counts in 2023.

Job Vacancies

5.11Employers who need to recruit staff can send their vacancy information to our Job Vacancy Processing Centre by fax (2566 3331) or through the Internet (www.jobs.gov.hk). The vacancy information is then disseminated through a network of job centres, three recruitment centres for the catering, retail and construction industries, the iES website and mobile application as well as vacancy search terminals located in various sites throughout the territory after vetting.

Recruitment and Promotional Activities

5.12The LD organises a variety of activities to promote our employment services and appeal for vacancies from employers. Job fairs are held to facilitate job seekers and employers to meet and communicate direct. Apart from large-scale job fairs, district-based job fairs are held at job centres to assist employers to recruit residents in the locality and to enable job seekers to participate in job interviews without having to travel long distance.

5.13The LD fully resumed the organisation of job fairs after the COVID-19 epidemic had stabilised. In the year, 17 large-scale job fairs were held, attracting over 26 000 job seekers. At the same time, 942 district-based job fairs were organised, with over 20 000 on-the-spot interviews arranged.

Services provided for targeted groups

Elderly and Middle-aged Job Seekers

5.14The LD provides dedicated employment services for the elderly and middle-aged persons and promote their employment through various means such as setting up special counters at job centres to provide priority registration and job referral service for the elderly and middle-aged job seekers, conducting employers' experience-sharing sessions, and organising employment briefings and job fairs targeting the elderly and middle-aged persons.

5.15In addition, the LD implements the Employment Programme for the Elderly and Middle-aged (EPEM) to encourage employers to hire the elderly and middle-aged and provide them with on-the-job training (OJT) through the provision of OJT allowance. Employers engaging job seekers aged 60 or above who are unemployed or have left the workforce are offered a monthly training allowance of up to $5,000 per employee for six to 12 months. Those who engage unemployed job-seekers aged 40 to 59 are offered an allowance of up to $4,000 per month per employee for three to six months. The EPEM covers both full-time and part-time jobs. There were 3 873 placements eligible for joining the programme in 2023.

New Arrival and Ethnic Minority Job Seekers

5.16The LD's job centres provide comprehensive employment services to new arrival and ethnic minority job seekers. These include employment advisory services, job referral, employment briefing and information resources. The job seekers in need are encouraged to participate in various employment programmes to enhance their employment opportunities.

5.17The LD implements the "Employment Services Ambassador Programme for Ethnic Minorities" to employ trainees of the Youth Employment and Training Programme who can communicate in ethnic minority languages to work as Employment Services Ambassadors at job centres, industry-based recruitment centres and job fairs. Moreover, the LD in 2023 employed 21 more ethnic minorities as employment assistants and general assistants to strengthen employment and related support for the ethnic minorities communities. To enhance the employment opportunities of the ethnic minorities, two large-scale and 12 district-based inclusive job fairs were respectively organised in 2023.

5.18In November 2023, the LD launched the regularised Racial Diversity Employment Programme, commissioning non-governmental organisations to provide one-stop employment services for ethnic minority job seekers through a case management approach. In 2023, the programme served 255 ethnic minority job seekers and recorded 129 placements.

Work Trial Scheme (WTS)

5.19The WTS seeks to enhance the employment opportunities of job seekers who have difficulties in finding jobs. There is no age limit for applicants. Participants take up jobs offered by participating organisations during the one-month work-trial with no employer-employee relationship. On completion of the one-month full-time work trial, the maximum allowance payable to each participant is $9,600, while the allowance for part-time work trial is calculated at an hourly rate of $57. Of this allowance, $500 are contributed by the participating organisation. In 2023, 211 job seekers were placed into work trials.

Workers Affected by Large-scale Retrenchment

5.20In major business closure or redundancy cases, the LD sets up hotlines for enquiry and special counters at job centres to provide special employment services to affected employees. We canvass suitable vacancies from employers to facilitate job search of the affected employees. In addition, under our iES website, a dedicated webpage displays vacancies offered by employers interested in recruiting job seekers who have lost their jobs in recent closure or redundancy exercises. This helps the affected employees find suitable jobs more effectively. In the year, we offered such special employment services to some 3 300 affected employees.

Job Seekers with Disabilities

5.21The Selective Placement Division (SPD) offers employment assistance to job seekers with disabilities who are fit for open employment. Employment consultants provide personalised employment services, including employment counselling, job matching and referral as well as post-placement follow-up services. In 2023, the SPD registered 2 840 job seekers with disabilities and secured 2 406 placements (Appendix 5.3).

Work Orientation and Placement Scheme (WOPS)

5.22The WOPS facilitates open employment of persons with disabilities by encouraging employers to engage persons with disabilities and render them with coaching and support through the provision of an allowance. The maximum allowance payable under WOPS to an eligible employer for engaging each person with disabilities having employment difficulties during the nine-month allowance period totalled $60,000. In 2023, WOPS recorded 1 185 placements.

Self Help Integrated Placement Service (SHIPS)

5.23The SHIPS aims at improving the job searching skills of job seekers with disabilities and encouraging them to be more proactive in job hunt, thereby enhancing their employment opportunities. In 2023, 319 job seekers with disabilities participated in the programme.

Interactive Selective Placement Service (iSPS) Website

5.24The iSPS website (www.jobs.gov.hk/isps) provides employment services for job seekers with disabilities and employers. The website enables persons with disabilities to register with the SPD, browse job vacancy information and perform preliminary job matching. It also enables employers to place vacancy orders, identify suitable job seekers with disabilities to fill their vacancies and request the SPD to refer candidates to them for selection interview.

Promotional Activities

5.25To enhance public understanding of the work abilities of persons with disabilities as well as to publicise the services of the SPD and the WOPS, the SPD conducted a series of promotional activities, such as staging exhibitions, producing publications and advertisements, broadcasting promotional videos, and publicising promotional messages through newspapers, publications of employers' associations, radio and television channels, public transport network, wall banners and mobile application advertisements during the year. In addition, a large-scale seminar was held for employers and human resources practitioners. Promotional visits were paid to employers of different trades and publicity materials were sent to them to canvass more job vacancies for persons with disabilities.

Services for Young People

Greater Bay Area Youth Employment Scheme

5.26The LD launched the regularised scheme in March 2023 to encourage enterprises with business in both Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area (GBA) Mainland cities to employ Hong Kong young people to work in the GBA Mainland cities, so as to foster their career development and the exchange of talents in GBA. Enterprises should employ the young people who were awarded a bachelor's degrees or above in 2021 to 2023 in accordance with Hong Kong laws with a monthly salary of not less than HK$18,000. The LD provided enterprises with a monthly allowance of HK$10,000 for each young person employed up to 18 months.

5.27In the year, the LD established the GBA Youth Employment Division to take charge of the implementation of the scheme. The LD also commissioned organisations with rich experience to strengthen the support for young people employed under the scheme. In 2023, the scheme recorded a total of 2 540 job vacancies from 278 enterprises and 718 notifications of employment.

Youth Employment and Training Programme (YETP)

5.28To enhance the employability of young people, the LD administers the YETP, a "through-train" programme providing seamless and comprehensive training and employment support to young people aged 15 to 24 with educational attainment at sub-degree level or below.

5.29Trainees can enrol on a year-round basis and are entitled to a full range of services, including training courses, one-month workplace attachment training, OJT of six to 12 months, reimbursement of off-the-job course and examination fees up to $4,000 per trainee, as well as case management services rendered by registered social workers. Employers who engage trainees and provide them with OJT are entitled to a maximum OJT allowance of $5,000 per month per employee for six to 12 months.

5.30The LD strengthened the collaboration with the Employees Retraining Board (ERB) effective from April 2023. The ERB offered diversified pre-employment training to YETP trainees to enhance their competitiveness in the job market. The YETP also raised the rate of training allowance payable to trainees to a maximum of $241 per day and the workplace attachment training allowance to $7,300 per month in April and July respectively, with a view to further encouraging young people to receive pre-employment training and workplace attachment training.

5.31In the 2022/23 programme year running from September 2022 to August 2023, 1 253 YETP trainees attended training courses and 1 341 OJT placements were secured under the YETP.

5.32The YETP collaborates with service providers and individual employers or employers of specific sectors to launch special employment projects, providing tailor-made pre-employment training and OJT for young people. In the 2022/23 programme year, nine special employment projects and 64 job fairs were organised, involving employers in the banking, retail, catering, aviation as well as construction and engineering industries, etc. Moreover, a large-scale "Youth Recruitment Day", offering more than 2 000 OJT vacancies for young job seekers, was held in June.

5.33In August, the LD co-organised the Award Ceremony of YETP Most Improved Trainees 2023 cum Concert with Radio Television Hong Kong. The event, themed "Fly with YETP", showcased the improvements of trainees after joining the YETP and commended the caring efforts of service providers and employers. Trainees' successful experience constituted the best encouragement to their peers. It was also a sterling testimony to the achievements of trainees, service providers, employers and the Government in nurturing the development of the young generation.

5.34The YETP continued to operate the "Career Kick Start" project in 2023 to offer OJT of 12 months' duration to young people with special employment needs through placements in NGOs with a view to enhancing their employability. The subsidy to NGOs was increased from $9,000 to $9,600 per month per trainee. Participating NGOs are encouraged to assist trainees in securing full-time jobs in the open employment market by the provision of Placement Incentive.

Youth Employment Start

5.35The LD operates two youth employment resource centres named Youth Employment Start. The centres provide personalised advisory and support services on employment and self-employment to young people aged between 15 and 29 to facilitate them to map out their career path, enhance their employment opportunities and support them to pursue self-employment. Services provided include career assessment, career guidance, professional counselling, value-adding training, self-employment support as well as up-to-date labour market information. In 2023, the number of services provided to young people by the two centres totalled 63 610.

Working Holiday Scheme (WHS)

5.36Since 2001, Hong Kong has established bilateral WHS with 13 economies, namely New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, Germany, Japan, Canada, Korea, France, the United Kingdom, Austria, Hungary, Sweden and the Netherlands. The scheme provides an opportunity for Hong Kong youths aged between 18 and 30 to broaden their horizons, allowing them to experience foreign culture through living and working temporarily while holidaymaking overseas. At the same time, youths of our partner economies may also learn more about Hong Kong through the scheme.

5.37A majority of partner economies allow Hong Kong youths to stay in their economies for up to 12 months and take up short-term employment to subsidise their expenses, and/or study short-term courses (except for Ireland) while holidaying.

5.38The WHS has been well received among young people. As at end-2023, more than 103 000 Hong Kong youths participated in the scheme, while more than 16 200 youths from the partner economies came to Hong Kong under the scheme. The LD will continue to enhance the publicity of this scheme, and explore with more economies to establish new WHS or expand existing bilateral arrangements, in order to provide more choices and opportunities for Hong Kong youths to participate in the scheme.

Regulating Local Employment Agencies and Employment outside Hong Kong

5.39The LD regulates employment agencies in Hong Kong through licensing, inspection, complaint investigation and prosecution. In 2023, we issued 3 833 employment agency licences and revoked or refused to issue/renew five licences. As at end-2023, there were 3 655 licensed employment agencies in Hong Kong. A total of 2 010 inspections were made by the LD officers to employment agencies in the year.

5.40We promulgate the Code of Practice for Employment Agencies (the Code) for compliance by the industry with a view to promoting professionalism and service quality in the industry. At the same time, the dedicated Employment Agencies Portal (www.eaa.labour.gov.hk) provides employment agency operators and staff, job seekers, employers and other members of the public with updated information related to the regulation of employment agencies. The portal also publishes the records of conviction of the offences of overcharging and unlicensed operation, revocation or refusal of renewal of licence and written warnings issued for non-compliance with the Code, so as to assist members of the public in making informed decisions when engaging the services of employment agencies. The enhanced transparency also helps foster the adoption of good practices by the industry.

5.41The LD also safeguards the interests of local employees employed by employers outside Hong Kong to work in other territories by attesting all employment contracts entered into Hong Kong involving manual employees and those non-manual employees with monthly wages not exceeding $20,000.

Regulating Labour Importation

Supplementary Labour Scheme (SLS)/ Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS)

5.42The LD administers the SLS which operates on the principles of ensuring employment priority for local workers while allowing employers with proven recruitment difficulties to apply for importation of workers at technician level or below. To alleviate the manpower shortage across different sectors, the LD launched the ESLS on 4 September 2023 to enhance the coverage and operation of the SLS.

5.43We provide active job matching and referral services for local job seekers, and widely publicise vacancies under the SLS to ensure their employment priority. Local workers can attend tailor-made retraining courses, if appropriate, to better equip themselves to fill the vacancies. Applications from employers who have set restrictive and unreasonable job requirements or who have no sincerity in employing local workers will be rejected.

5.44As at end-2023, there were 7 827 imported workers working in Hong Kong under the SLS/ESLS.

Policy on Foreign Domestic Helpers (FDHs)

5.45FDHs have been admitted to work in Hong Kong since the 1970s. Apart from enjoying the same statutory rights and benefits as all employees in Hong Kong, FDHs are further protected by a Government-prescribed Standard Employment Contract, which stipulates that employers must provide FDHs with free accommodation with reasonable privacy, free food (or food allowance in lieu), free passage to and from the FDHs' place of origin, free medical treatment, etc. FDHs also enjoy wage protection through the Government-prescribed Minimum Allowable Wage (MAW), under which employers have to pay FDHs a salary no less than the prevailing MAW when the contracts are signed. The Government attaches great importance to safeguarding FDHs' statutory and contractual rights. The LD spares no efforts in investigating suspected offence cases and will take out prosecution action if there is sufficient evidence.

5.46To strengthen the protection of FDHs and enhance the awareness of both FDHs and employers of their rights, benefits and responsibilities, the LD continued to organise a host of publicity and educational activities, and continued to maintain close liaison with and disseminate information on employment matters through the governments of FDH-sending countries and their Consulates-General in Hong Kong, NGOs serving FDHs, FDH employer groups and employment agency associations.

5.47As at end-2023, there were 356 231 FDHs in Hong Kong, with 56% coming from the Philippines and 41% from Indonesia.