Employment services for women, youth and retraining programmes

1. LD provides employment services through a network of 13 job centres, three industry-based recruitment centres, a Telephone Employment Service Centre, the Interactive Employment Service (iES) website and its mobile application. In 2017, a total of 49 233 job seekers registered for LD’s employment services, of whom 26 691 (54.2%) were female.
2. Middle-aged women who are seeking employment may also join the Employment Programme for the Middle-aged (EPM). Pursuant to the 2015 Policy Address, starting from September 2015, EPM which originally covered only full-time employment has been extended to part-time jobs to encourage employers to provide more suitable part-time employment opportunities to homemakers. In 2017, a total of 2 642 job seekers were placed into employment under EPM, of whom 1 701 (64.4%) were female. As announced in the 2018-19 Budget, to encourage employers to hire elderly persons including women and provide them with on-the-job training, LD will enhance EPM in 2018 by raising the allowance payable to employers engaging elderly job seekers aged 60 or above who have left the workforce or are unemployed.

Youth training and employment programmes

3. In addition to Youth Employment Resource Centres, LD has administered the Youth Employment and Training Programme (YETP) since September 2009 to provide a full range of pre-employment and on-the-job training to young people, irrespective of gender, aged 15 to 24 with educational attainment at sub-degree level or below. In the 2016/2017 programme year (running from September 2016 to August 2017), 5 720 young people were enrolled in YETP, of whom 2 206 (38.6%) were female. As announced in the 2018-19 Budget, to further promote the employment of youths, LD will increase the training allowance granted to employers engaging YETP trainees in on-the-job training posts in 2018.

Retraining programmes

4. To further empower women by enhancing their employability to join or rejoin the employment market, the Employees Retraining Board (ERB), an independent statutory body, offers training and retraining programmes and services with flexible modes to meet the market’s changing needs and cater for the family commitments of women. Since its establishment in 1992 until end-March 2018, ERB has provided over 2.45 million training places. More than 80% of the trainees enrolled in ERB courses are women.
5. In considering the specific needs of female trainees with family commitments, ERB provides flexible arrangements and services, such as “Modular Certificates Accumulation” and “First-Hire-Then-Train” Schemes, for trainees to enroll in courses according to their own time schedules. ERB’s “Smart Living” and “Smart Baby Care” Schemes provide one-stop free job matching and referral services in the areas of domestic cleaning, care as well as healthcare massage and post-natal care services respectively for graduates of related courses to enhance their employment opportunities.