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Labour Department committed to the promotion of equal opportunities in employment

The Commissioner for Labour, Mrs Pamela Tan Kam Mi-wah, said today (October 5) that the department had been fully committed to the promotion of equal opportunities in employment.

"Our labour legislation provides equal protection to all employees, irrespective of sex. Our employment services are provided to all job-seekers on a gender-neutral basis," she said.

Addressing the Conference on Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value:
International Best Practices today, Mrs Tan noted that while the services were provided free of charge on a gender-neutral basis, some services, for instance the enhanced employment services for domestic helpers, were mainly used by women.

"In 2000, we successfully placed 1 800 women in domestic helper jobs. Similarly, under the Re-employment Pilot Programme which the department launched in February this year to assist middle-aged job seekers secure a sustainable job through a package of services including counselling, placement and induction-training, more women than men have participated in this programme.

On the needs and problems of women in the area of employment,
Mrs Tan said: "The foremost concern of women is access to 'decent work', particularly in the wake of the continuing restructuring and recent slowdown in the local economy, as well as the ever-increasing impacts of globalisation."

" By decent work, I mean productive work in which rights are protected, which generates reasonable income, with adequate social protection. Access to decent work embraces the principle that every person should have access to income-earning opportunities and enjoy the fundamental protection and rights at work," she said.

She noted that another concern of women was pay equity - which encompasses "equal pay for work of equal value" and "equal pay for equal work".

"Both are simple concepts and are noble rights. But there is a distinction between the two. 'Equal pay for equal work' simply means that the employer pays two employees doing the same job equally.

"The concept 'equal pay for work of equal value', a relatively new one in Hong Kong, means the employer must give his employees equal remuneration not only for the same job, but also for jobs of a different nature yet having the same value," she explained.

Mrs Tan pointed out that there were questions that needed to be addressed when putting the principle of equal pay for work of equal value into practice.

First of all, she said, in order to pay workers equally for jobs with the same value, the employer had to appraise different jobs and determine their relative values. The associated questions are:

  • On what criteria should the employer compare the values of different jobs?
  • How can the employer strike a balance between the market forces of supply and demand and the principle of equity of job values?

Secondly, in order to appraise different jobs objectively, there would need to be an objective job classification and wage fixing system, she continued. The associated questions are:

  • Should employers or a central authority be responsible for conducting objective job appraisals?
  • Would the small and medium enterprises, which constitute over 98　per cent of the enterprises in Hong Kong, have the resources to develop and administer a job appraisal system?
  • Do we in Hong Kong have sufficient expertise to carry out objective job appraisals?
  • How should complaints on wage discrimination be dealt with?

In addressing the questions, Mrs Tan said that there were three important principles that we should seek to adhere to. These are:

  1. we must devise a pragmatic approach of implementation which is generally accepted by the social partners and the civic society at large;
  2. we should ensure that implementation of the principle would not stifle job creation or create inefficiencies in the labour market; and
  3. there ought to be in place adequate guidance to assist employers in carrying out job evaluation.

Mrs Tan revealed that the Task Force established by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) in May last year to promote and recommend ways to progressively implement the principle of equal pay for work of equal value had taken a very cautious and pragmatic approach in taking the matter forward.

"It has divided the implementation into three phases. In the first phase, the pay and personnel data within the Civil Service and the Hospital Authority will be analysed to see if gender-based pay differentials exist, and if so, in what areas.

"In the second phase, large private sector companies with over 200 employees will be looked at, while in the third phase, SMEs will be examined," she said, adding that the first phase was already underway.

"In taking this progressive approach, I hope the EOC can better assess the nature and size of the problem, build expertise, find practicable solutions to the problem and promote public awareness," she said.

In the second quarter of 2001, women accounted for 43 per cent of the labour force, up from 36 per cent in 1990. A quarter of the female employed persons have attained tertiary education, representing a significant increase from 15 per cent in 1990.