[Archive] Students taking up summer jobs

LEGCO QUESTION NO. 13(WRITTEN REPLY)

Date of Meeting: 13 June 2001

Asked by : Hon LAU Kong-wah

Replied by : Secretary for Education and Manpower

Question :

As many students seek short-term employment during the summer holidays ("summer jobs"), will the Government inform this Council:

of the number of complaints about summer jobs received from students in each of the past five years, together with a breakdown by the type of jobs and the subject of complaint;
whether publicity campaigns have been launched to remind students of matters that need to be noted when seeking summer jobs; if so, of the details; and
whether guidelines on how to guard against deception have been provided to students?

Reply:

Madam President,

In the past five years, the Labour Department (LD) has not received any complaints about summer jobs.

b. & c.

Every year, the LD organizes a series of publicity activities to remind young job seekers of matters that they should pay attention to when choosing their summer jobs and enhance their awareness of relevant labour legislation. Measures and activities for this year include:

Placement officers have been reminding students of matters requiring special attention in seeking summer jobs when they delivered career talks at schools throughout the school year;
Information has been displayed at Job Centres and at roving exhibitions on placement services to alert young job seekers to employment traps;
A booklet entitled "A Guide for Summer Job Seekers" to set out information on relevant labour legislation, has been published. In particular, the booklet highlights the protection that summer job workers generally enjoy under the Employment Ordinance (EO) and areas in which they should take caution when entering into employment contracts. Free copies of the booklet, together with a purpose-made CD-ROM of interactive games on the EO, were distributed to young people via secondary schools and youth centres throughout the territory in January 2001. These materials have also been uploaded onto the LD website for wider public access;
A poster has been produced to remind students to watch out for employment traps in seeking summer jobs and a booklet entitled "Summer Job Guide" has been published to provide students with guidelines on how to secure summer jobs. Starting from March 2001, free copies of the poster and booklet have been distributed to young people through secondary schools, youth centres and Job Centres of the LD;
Since April 2001, information on common employment traps and hints on how to detect such traps have been uploaded onto the LD's Interactive Employment Service website for public use;
A radio Announcement of Public Interest to remind students of employment traps has been broadcast since May 2001; and
From February to May 2001, nine talks on the EO have been organized for students of local universities and the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education.

Meanwhile, the LD has been putting occupational safety messages across to young summer job seekers through education, publicity and law enforcement. Publicity activities to promote summer job safety include:

The LD has published jointly with the Occupational Safety and Health Council a booklet entitled "A Guide on Summer Job Safety" and a leaflet entitled "Safety and Health Guide for Summer Job Workers". Every year, these publications are distributed through the Education Department (ED) to all local secondary schools so that relevant messages can be put over to students before the summer recess;
The LD has, in collaboration with the ED, produced an educational filmclip to promote summer job safety. Apart from broadcasting the filmclip on television, arrangements have been made for teachers to show it in class;
A radio Announcement of Public Interest on summer job safety has been produced and will be broadcast during the summer vacation every year;
The LD has produced a poster providing students with safety hints in seeking summer jobs. Every year, copies of the poster would be distributed to secondary schools before the summer recess. The safety hints have also been uploaded onto the LD website for easy access by students;
The LD has launched a self-learning software, the "Occupational Safety and Health E-quiz", for students to browse on the Internet. This interacting quiz seeks to provide secondary students with basic occupational safety and health knowledge; and
The LD has delivered two talks on summer job safety and health from May to June 2001.

In addition, the Commissioner for Labour would hold press conferences and remind students looking for summer jobs to be aware of employment traps and workplace hazards.

Regular publicity campaigns are launched by the Hong Kong Police Force to remind students of necessary precautions against falling victim to deceptions in seeking summer jobs. For instance, one of the selected anti-crime themes of this summer's Crime Prevention Campaign is "employment traps for young job seekers". Posters and leaflets will be displayed and distributed during the Campaign to maximize publicity and to provide guidelines for young job seekers.