[Commentary] The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Lin Zhengyue, announced on May 12 that the "employment protection" program that subsidizes employers to pay employees' wages will start accepting applications from qualified employers on the 25th of this month.

　　[Same period] Chief Executive Lin Zheng Yue'e of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

　　After a month of intensive discussion, refinement, and research with stakeholders, we also heard a lot of opinions. We have roughly finalized the details of this "employment protection" plan. The application date will start on the 25th of this month. The first application period covers June, July and August this year. The application period is 3 weeks. This is the three-month salary subsidy for the first period.

　　[Commentary] On April 8th, the Hong Kong SAR Government announced the launch of an “employment guarantee” program with an amount of 81 billion Hong Kong dollars, which provides qualified employers with 50% wage subsidies, with a cap of 9,000 Hong Kong dollars per employee for 6 months. The Finance Committee of the Hong Kong Legislative Council approved the overall appropriation on April 18, including HK $ 81 billion for the "employment protection" plan. On May 12, Lin Zhengyue once again reaffirmed the purpose of the "employment protection" plan before promulgating the rules.

　　[Same period] Chief Executive Lin Zheng Yue'e of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

　　The purpose of the "employment protection" plan is to provide wage subsidies to eligible employers so that they can retain their employees and retain strength for Hong Kong. On the whole, we hope that through the "employment protection" program, we can resist the wave of unemployment and reduce large-scale layoffs, and hope that all sectors of society, employers and employees can survive the economic winter.

　　[Commentary] In order to help more employees benefit from the plan and retain their jobs, Lin Zhengyue proposed a series of improvement measures involving 60,000 older employees; 12,000 consecutive employees in the construction and catering industries will be re-integrated into the plan There are more than 5,000 employers and self-employed persons involved.

　　Reporter Li Yue Hong Kong

Editor in charge: [Wang Kai]