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Following is a question by the Hon Andrew Leung and an oral reply by the Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr Stephen Ip, in the Legislative Council today (January 17):
Question:
It has been reported that although the atmosphere of the labour market keeps improving, the unemployment rate of young people aged 15 to 24 remains as high as 10.7%. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the total number of participants of the Youth Work Experience and Training Scheme offered by the Labour Department since its launch in 2002 until the end of 2006; the percentage of trainees who have succeeded in securing employment upon completion of the training programmes of the Scheme, and whether it knows the way out for those who cannot secure employment; and
(b) whether it has considered introducing new measures or schemes to further assist young people in finding suitable jobs, so as to boost the employment rate of young people?
Reply:
Madam President,
According to the Census and Statistics Department, the latest unemployment rate of young people aged 15 to 24 in September to November 2006 was 9.8%, with the number of unemployed young people at 38,600. Comparing with 10.7% and 42,600 unemployed in August to October 2006, the unemployment rate dropped by 0.9% and the number of unemployed young people decreased by 4,000. Comparing with the peak of 19.1% and 76,700 unemployed in June to August 2003, the number of unemployed young people decreased by half to 38,600. The employment of young people has improved significantly.
The Youth Work Experience and Training Scheme (YWETS) was launched by the Labour Department (LD) in July 2002 to enhance the employability of young people aged 15 to 24 with educational attainment below degree level by providing them with on-the-job training for 6 to 12 months.
The original target of YWETS was to place 20,000 young people into employment by July 2006. This was achieved in April 2005 -- 16 months ahead of schedule. Up to end-2006, over 31,400 young people were engaged by employers as trainees under the Scheme. In addition, over 16,000 found employment in the open market with the assistance of their case managers.
To assess the effectiveness of the Scheme, LD commissioned the Hong Kong Polytechnic University to conduct a comprehensive review of the Scheme and an 18-month longitudinal study on more than 800 trainees to trace changes in their employability. The study completed in January 2006 revealed that after joining the Scheme for one year, 72.8% of the trainees had secured employment, 9% pursued further study, 1.4% became self-employed and 0.3% were homemakers. Only 16.5% of trainees were seeking jobs at the time of the study. The review also affirmed the effectiveness of the YWETS in enhancing the employability of young people.
To further strengthen employment support for youths, LD is in the process of setting up two Youth Employment Resource Centres to provide one-stop advisory and support services on employment and self-employment to past and current trainees of the Youth Pre-employment Training Programme (YPTP) and the YWETS as well as all young people aged 15 to 29.
On YWETS and YPTP, LD will continue to develop new training courses to meet market needs and trainees' interests in collaboration with training bodies. LD will also strengthen promotion of tailor-made employment/training projects to employers and trainees, capitalising on the combined benefits of the two programmes.
Overall, the Government will continue to adopt a multi-pronged strategy to enhance the employability of young people through education, skills training and employment support services.
Ends/Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Issued at HKT 15:03
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