Policy Address

Enhance Actions to Combat Illegal Employment

251. The Government will step up efforts to combat illegal employment, establish a dedicated hotline for reporting illegal workers, and strengthen intelligence collection and inter-departmental joint enforcement operations to safeguard the employment opportunities of local workers.

Reform the Employees Retraining Board and Strengthen Local Skills Training

252. In the last Policy Address, I announced the reform of the ERB. The aim is to assist members of the workforce, from all backgrounds and educational attainments, to enhance their skills and competitiveness on a continuous basis, to meet the needs of economic and industrial development in Hong Kong.

253. Since early this year, the ERB has enhanced such services as training and career planning, and outlined an initial reform roadmap for the next three years. The ERB will strengthen its industry consultative mechanism, and identify demand for and gaps in core skills in a targeted manner to devise a skills-based training framework. It will collaborate with higher education institutions and guide other training bodies in developing courses of various types and levels to fill the skill gaps. In future, the ERB will also launch micro-credential courses recognised by industries to offer greater flexibility to trainees, and make good use of technology to offer diversified and flexible modes of learning. When the ERB finalises the full implementation by the end of this year, the Government will amend the Employees Retraining Ordinance accordingly.