Wage earners are speculated, and the proportion of part-time jobs increases. The government researches continuous contracts and changes them to four weeks for calculation.

In recent years, the proportion of wage earners who work on casual jobs and part-time jobs has increased, and the proportion of employees with non-continuous contracts has reached 6.9%. The weekly working hours stipulated in the contract are 18 hours, or changed to a calculation unit of four weeks, or calculated on a pro-rata basis for employee benefits that do not meet the requirements of the continuous contract.

Deng Jiabiao, one of the current employee representatives of the LAB and member of the Legislative Council of the Federation of Trade Unions, pointed out that at present, employee representatives, employer representatives and the Labor Department all agree that priority should be given to discussing the provision of continuous contracts with four weeks as a calculation unit. Employment benefits are available upon reaching a certain total number of hours worked.

The Labor Department proposed to restart the discussion considering that the latest statistics show that the proportion of employees with non-continuous contracts is 6.9%, which is an increase from the 2009 statistical result of 5.2%.

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According to the statistics of the Census and Statistics Department in March 2021, during the statistical period from October 2019 to January 2020, there were 203,500 employees who were not employed under continuous contracts, accounting for 6.9% of the total wage earners.

Among them, 155,800 people worked less than 18 hours a week, accounting for 5.3%; 37,800 people worked 18 hours or more a week but less than four weeks, accounting for 1.3%; More than 18 hours but non-continuous person has 9900, accounting for 0.3%.

It is reported that at the latest LAB meeting, the Labor Department proposed three directions for review, including lowering the 18-hour weekly working hours stipulated in the continuous contract, or using four weeks as a unit of calculation, or calculating proportionally without reaching continuity Contractually stipulated employee benefits.

Deng Jiabiao expressed his hope to strive for a lower total working hours, such as 64 hours a week.

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Deng Jiabiao said that in the relevant meeting discussions, employee representatives, employer representatives and the Labor Department all agreed to continue to review this issue, and believed that the priority review would be to use four weeks as a calculation unit, that is, wage earners can enjoy 72 hours of total working hours within four weeks. employment benefits.

He revealed that employee representatives hope to fight for a lower total working hours, such as 64 hours.

There is a good chance of reaching a consensus in this review, because the current society is concerned about the problem of labor shortage, if the treatment of wage earners can be improved, it will help to release the labor force and achieve a win-win situation.

He said that many employers took advantage of loopholes in continuous contracts to arrange for employees to take breaks after working for a long time in a few concentrated days, such as working for 24 hours and resting for 24 hours, but they did not meet the requirement of 18 hours of continuous work per week; Arrange for employees to work normally for the first three weeks, but not work or work very few hours for the fourth week, thereby avoiding continuous contract provisions and eliminating employee benefits.

If it can be changed to four weeks as a calculation unit, related loopholes can be avoided.

▼The policy report proposes to "grab talents and companies"▼

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The Employment Ordinance stipulates that if an employee is employed by the same employer for four weeks or more and works 18 hours or more per week, he is considered to be employed under a continuous contract, commonly known as "418".

The LAB discussed different proposals from 2013 to 2014, but representatives of the labor and management committees failed to reach a consensus.

There were five proposed directions discussed at the time, including canceling the requirement for continuous contracts; lowering the weekly working hours by 18 hours; taking four weeks as a unit of calculation; calculating proportionally the employment benefits of employees who did not meet the regulations; or maintaining the status quo.

▼On October 20, the Labor Department held a job fair for two consecutive days▼

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Shi Ronghuai, one of the employer representatives of the LAB, said that he will discuss different options. Among them, changing four weeks to one calculation unit is more flexible and easy for both employers and employees to accept. However, if the total working hours of four weeks are reduced to 64 hours, it will be "not a good idea." , the LAB has not entered into the discussion of the details of the specific plan at present, and there is still no established plan, and I do not want to discuss the issue of hours for the time being.

The change of regulations will always increase the cost of the capital, which is a chain of links, but the continuous contract will be re-examined.

Shi Ronghuai, one of the employer representatives of the LAB, said that different plans will be discussed, among which changing four weeks to a unit of calculation is more flexible.

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