Financial Secretary Henry Tang said yesterday that the labour market is improving as the Hong Kong economy is expected to recover further this year in spite of the SARS impact.

He made the remark after chairing his first meeting of the Task Force on Employment yesterday.

The continual improvement in the economic situation, which is reflected in the government revision of the forecast growth rate in real terms of GDP for 2003 from 1.5 to 2 per cent, will help the labour market, Tang said.

This is shown in a substantial 60-per cent increase in the number of vacancies recorded at the Job Centres of the Labour Department in July as compared with the previous month, he said.

He went on to point out that the bulk of the new vacancies were from the private sector. The number registered with the Labour Department in August represented the largest monthly figure ever recorded.

Altogether, some 24,600 private-sector vacancies were captured in August as compared with 21,700 in July. The daily average of vacancies received by the Labour Department also increased considerably from 600-800 to 1,000 in August.

"Furthermore, many of the newly received vacancies were from new employers, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises. This reflected the growing recruitment needs of employers, along with the revival in economic activities," Tang said.

The financial secretary also briefed members of the task force on what Invest Hong Kong has contributed to the economic recovery and the labour market.

He said that since its establishment in 2000, Invest Hong Kong has assisted more than 350 foreign companies here, resulting in the creation of over 4,750 new jobs.

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