Fewer welfare recipients in 3 districts
But jobless rate almost 50 per cent higher than overall figure
The number of welfare recipients in three poor districts fell last year by 3.7 per cent from 2005 but the jobless rate remained almost 50 per cent higher than the official 4.4 per cent, government figures show.
In a written reply yesterday to a question by unionist lawmaker Wong Kwok-hing, Secretary for Economic Development and Labour Stephen Ip Shu-kwan said the number of people living on welfare in Tung Chung, Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing because of low earnings and unemployment dropped from 9,234 in 2005 to 8,888 last year.
Their jobless rate stood at 6.3 per cent of the workforce, receding from its peak at 7.9 in 2004 but almost 50 per cent higher than the city's overall unemployment rate of 4.4 per cent at the end of January. Mr Ip said the Ngong Ping 360 cable car project on Lantau Island helped to create 179 jobs in the three districts last year, and the government had allocated HK$14 billion for several major construction projects in the area to boost employment. Of these, four would start in the 2007-2008 financial year.
But Mr Wong said new projects were not enough, and contractors should be required to hire workers within the three districts.
'If [the government] is sincere, it should specify in tenders that contractors should hire workers from the districts, or offer rebates to those who do.'
The Labour Department said such a policy contravened free-market principles but stressed that it strived to create jobs for locals.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman said the department had turned down a golf course operator's request to import caddies to work on a golf course that would open near the airport later this year.
The bureau said 60,000 people were hired by the airport by the end of last year, and a further 30,000 vacancies were expected to be created under the Airport Core Programme, including construction of the airport railway and North Lantau Expressway. The building of the third airport runway and an additional cargo terminal announced in yesterday's budget would create more jobs, especially for those in the northern area.
