Jobs bypass remote areas

Jacky Lee Chuck-yin leaves his home at Kam Tin, Yuen Long at 8am every day. It is an hour-long commute - by bus, West Rail and then one more bus ride - before the 20-year-old finally arrives at the elderly centre at Tin Shui Wai where he works.

The salary is far from lucrative - a mere HK$4,000 a month for an eight-hour, five-and-a-half-days-a-week job, but Lee finds the one-year contract much better.

'I worked as a property agent in Tsim Sha Tsui after I graduated from Form Five. I had a basic salary of HK$4,800, but almost half of it was spent on travel and meal. It cost more than HK$40 a day on commuting,' recounts Lee.

It has always been hard for unskilled and inexperienced youngsters with low academic qualification to find jobs. For people like Lee, who live in remote districts, location poses an extra obstacle.

'In Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai, there are only limited economic activities and jobs are scarce. But travelling outside for work is expensive and time- consuming. Even if you work at the closest town centres, say Kwai Chung or Tsing Yi, it takes an hour to commute,' says Suen Nam-pan, manager of Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Union's (HKCTU) training centre at Yuen Long.

'Low incomes, long hours and long commuting prevent them from going for further studies - the only chance for them to get better jobs. They are trapped in this cycle.'

Yuen Long district has the youngest population, yet it is also with lowest average educational qualification, according to Mr Suen. HKCTU's Youth Concern Group conducted a survey in Yuen Long and Tuen Mun districts and of the 311 interviewees aged 15 to 30, almost 77 per cent were found to be Form Five graduates or below.