HONG KONG: Employment or lack of it stands as the chief concern for those in the social welfare sector as Financial Secretary Donald Tsang prepares to bring down his second budget tomorrow.

A society of academics and non-governmental organizations has called on the government to introduce targeted budgetary measures to stop the job losses.

The society calls for measures to halt growing unemployment, which has been getting worse since mid-2008.

Nelson Chow, chair professor at the University of Hong Kong's social work & social administration, suggested the government integrate new job stimulus programs into social services.

At present, there are about 30,000 senior citizens awaiting vacancies at homes for the elderly. Instead of taking time to build more nursing homes, Chow proposed to hire unskilled workers to take care of the elderly who are still awaiting acceptance into special housing.

"The government can recruit people from the community, especially women, in districts of higher service demand, as personal care workers," Chow said, adding this can lower the unemployment rate while providing care service for those who need it.

He predicted a 5 to 10 percent increase in social security payments over the current HK$18 billion annual outlay owing to the aging population and expected further increases in unemployment.

"If the jobless rate rises 1 percent, there will be 3000 to 5000 new applications for the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme, according to past history," he said.

Tang Kwong-leung, professor of Social Work at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, found the economic downturn hitting hardest at the middle class and low-income groups.

In addition to short-term relief measures such as tax concessions and one-off grants, Tang urged the government to launch an unemployment insurance program to offer assistance to the jobless as well as to encourage job seeking.

He noted this is a common practice on the mainland and in overseas countries. Both employers and employees would contribute a sum to an integrated account administered by the government.

The appropriations will be given to unemployed citizens for a period of time, in order to temporarily support their living before they find a new job.

"We cannot rely on the government all the time. Everyone in the society has the right and duty," Tang said.

He also noted many emotional and domestic problems are associated with the present economic difficulties and he suggested more training for social workers to provide crisis intervention counseling.

While the government has an ambitious program for assisting recent graduates, youth who are disengaged become weaker as candidates for employment, one social worker warned. "The young generation is vital to support the economy of the future. We should not waste the productivity of these youth," said Ken Chan, service development chief officer of the Hong Kong Council of Social Services.

(HK Edition 02/24/2009 page1)