Asked by : Ir Dr Hon HO Chung-tai
Replied by : SEM
Question :
Will the Government inform this Council whether:
Reply:
Madam President,
a. | According to the information available to the Labour Department (LD), there were about 18 cases of insolvency, cessation of business and retrenchment involving companies providing internet services during the period from 1.1.2000 to 31.10.2000. About 970 employees were affected. The LD does not have a breakdown of these employees by the posts they held or by the types of jobs in which they were employed. |
b. | We have not kept track of individual employees laid off by companies providing internet services. Though some of these retrenched workers might have sought employment assistance from the LD, the department in providing such assistance would not ask the job-seekers whether or not they have been laid off by their former employers. As such, detailed information about employees laid off by companies providing internet services rejoining the labour market is not available. |
c. | We have not kept track of individual retrenched IT personnel. Therefore, we do not have detailed information on the types of jobs they are now taking up. From January to October 2000, however, 3000 vacancies related to information technology were registered with the LD, including vacancies for computer technicians, network administrators, programmers and web page designers. We believe that some of the employees laid off by companies providing internet services might have applied for these posts. |