7,000 temporary jobs created during Sars to be axed
About 7,000 temporary jobs created in Hong Kong during the Sars outbreak are to be cut, but the government said the improving jobs market would be able to absorb the affected workers.
The Permanent Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, said the government would spend about $873 million in the next financial year to extend 11,700 of the 18,900 temporary jobs in seven government departments.
The remainder will not be extended when they expire in March because they have become redundant, he said.
'When we created those jobs last year, it was to ease the high unemployment rate and to improve the overall hygiene of Hong Kong during the Sars outbreak,' Mr Cheung said.
'But providing temporary jobs to these workers is not a long-term solution.
'The job market has improved and the jobless rate has fallen. Thus, people who don't get their contracts renewed should be able to find jobs in the market,' Mr Cheung said.
But unionist legislators Lee Cheuk-yan and Lee Fung-ying said although the jobless rate had fallen - from 8.7 per cent last summer to 7.3 per cent in winter - it was still high.
They urged the government to renew workers' contracts if they could not find jobs.
'The government can't justify the move as these posts, which were created to ease unemployment, are now being taken back because of the budget deficit,' Ms Lee said.
'These jobs were created because there is a need in society,' she added.
But Mr Cheung said the jobs were extended according to each department's need.
He said many posts created to meet operational needs during the Sars outbreak were no longer required.
