Hong Kong Financial Secretary Henry Tang said Thursday that the government will continue to work closely with the labor sector and facilitate the business environment to create more jobs.

He said he was pleased to see that jobless rate falls to 30-month low of 6.8 percent, while adding that the situation remains challenging.

Tang said at a press conference that 6.8 percent is still a very high unemployment rate and the government said it is concerned about the challenges of the economic restructuring.

Tang called on employers to consider staff pay rises if their business allows, to retain capable employees.

In addition, the government has earmarked an average of 29 billion HK dollars (3.71 billion US dollars) a year for capital works projects for the next five years, creating some 44,000 jobs annually.

He explained that the ongoing infrastructure projects include Route 8 and Stonecutter Bridge, improvement to the Tung Chung Road, and the new infectious disease center attached to Princess Margaret Hospital, which create some 3,150 jobs.

Tang added that the construction of Hong Kong Disneyland has created over 5,700 jobs, with another 4,000 expected during the construction peak in 2004-05. These, together with 27 hotels to be completed by 2006, will further improve the employment situation.

The government has been also running two professional training schemes for Hong Kong residents between 15 and 24 years old, in a bid to let them have more opportunities in job seeking.

Source: Xinhua