***********************************************************
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, today (August 8) encouraged trainees taking certificate courses for personal care workers and post-natal care workers to make good use of the training to equip themselves for the employment opportunities arising from the heavy demand for such jobs in the market.
Mr Cheung offered his advice during a visit this morning to the courses run by the Hong Kong Young Women's Christian Association under the auspices of the Employees Retraining Board (ERB).
Mr Cheung learned that these two placement-tied courses are being offered to the unemployed free of charge while trainees are entitled to a training allowance.
For each course, the trainees are required to complete 152 hours of training, during which they are taught various health-care skills and communication skills as well as the appropriate work attitude. Trainees who complete the course and pass a range of assessments, including standardised practical assessments, are awarded a graduation certificate.
"With an ageing population in Hong Kong, the elderly homes have a great need for manpower. In addition, as the Government has been allocating more resources in recent years to provide a wider range of community and home care services to promote ageing in place, there is a growing demand for employees with home care and health-care knowledge," said Mr Cheung.
Mr Cheung noted that the demand for post-natal caregivers is also on the rise because of the increasing number of nuclear families. A key factor for the growing demand is that ERB graduates have a good reputation for providing professional services and have built up clients' trust in them.
Among the trainees of courses offered by the ERB in 2010-11, 1 071 have been awarded the personal care worker certificate while 2 514 have been awarded the post-natal care worker certificate. The placement rate of the former was 89 per cent and the latter was 86 per cent.
In 2011-12, the ERB is offering 1 250 and 3 352 training places for personal care workers and post-natal care workers respectively.
Mr Cheung also visited a class taking the Certificate in Advanced Security and Property Management course and learned about the retraining and employment support services provided by the Hong Kong Young Women's Christian Association.
Ends/Monday, August 8, 2011
Issued at HKT 19:03
NNNN
