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Youngsters aged between 15 and 24 are welcome to join the second phase of the joint recruitment of the Youth Pre-employment Training Programme (YPTP) and the Youth Work Experience Training Scheme (YWETS) for 2006/07 from today (February 24). Admission is free.
Speaking at the "Youths Fly High" launch ceremony today, the Permanent Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, said that the two programmes offered training and employment support for young people to enable them to take an important step in their career paths.
Through participation and full support from stakeholders in the community, the Labour Department's YPTP and YWETS have achieved fruitful results with more than 120,000 young people trained.
"We would not be complacent about the continuous improvement in youth employment. We understand that some youths who are less self-motivated may not have benefited immediately from the revival of the employment market owing to social, family or individual reasons.
"The Government will continue to enhance the employability of young people by a multi-pronged strategy that covers education, skill training and employment support.
"As a step to further enhance employment support for young people, the department will set up two new youth employment resource centres at the end of the year to provide one-stop comprehensive service for youths aged from 15 to 29, including existing and former trainees of the YPTP and the YWETS. The service will range from career counselling, value-added training to self-employment support," he said.
With a sustained recovery of the economy, the youth employment situation has improved notably. The unemployment rate for youngsters aged between 15 and 24 was 8.4% for the period from November last year to January this year while the number of unemployed was 33,300. Comparing the figures with those in the peak unemployment period in June to August, 2003, both the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed recorded a hefty drop of more than 50%.
A total of 12,700 jobs were created in 2006 for youths aged between 15 and 24. On the other hand, in the period from November last year to January this year, more than 80% of the 58,000 school leavers aged between 15 and 25 who entered the labour market had found a job. Compared with the same period in 2005, the situation had improved in terms of both the employment rate and number of employed.
"To rise to the opportunities and challenges brought by economic development, the Labour Department is committed to enhancing the YPTP and the YWETS to provide our youths with services that meet the needs of the market and the community," Mr Cheung said.
Application forms for the two programmes can be obtained from the department's YPTP and YWETS offices, Careers Information Centre and Job Centres; designated training bodies; Public Enquiry Service Centres of the Home Affairs Department and District Offices of the Social Welfare Department or downloaded from the Youth Employment Services website (http://www.yes.labour.gov.hk).
The Labour Department has set up a special Youth Employment Services hotline, 2112 9932, to provide one-stop enquiry service on the two programmes and to receive training vacancies from employers. The Youth Employment Services website has also been enhanced so that trainees can directly search and apply for training vacancies via the internet.
Ends/Saturday, February 24, 2007
Issued at HKT 14:45
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