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Jobless cashing in with the 'big sweep'

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About 800 cleaners stand to earn a total of $1 million carrying out the traditional 'big sweep', or house cleaning, ahead of the Lunar New Year.

The Year End Cleansing Campaign, now in its second year and run by the government's Employees Retraining Scheme, has expanded to take in 800 workers as the demand for their service soars.

The 500-strong team last year handled 1,028 jobs and earned more than $600,000. About 1,500 orders were placed, but one-third were turned down due to lack of manpower.

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The traditional year-end big sweep is supposed to signify the start of a new beginning with better luck than last year. A spokesman for the board said they aimed to tackle 1,500 jobs this year.

'Having explored this market, we hope to create as many new work opportunities as possible for our unemployed trainees through this project and help them make more money,' he said.

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The board received 1,000 orders and 1,850 inquiries in the first 11 days of this year.

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