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Message from the Chairman of HKRMA

香港零售管理協會主席之話

Ms. Caroline Mak

麥瑞琼女士

ation and renewal, has come. The just filling our day-to-day lives, but g's retail businesses. When we look er the past few months, I am very ales rebound to 22.7% in February, year.

Even better, the future remains bright. We have made tremendous efforts in advocating for manpower development in the industry and it is finally paying off. The Financial Secretary, Mr. John Tsang, announced in the 2013-2014 Budget that the Government will set up a Task Force on Manpower Development of the Retail Industry to study the economic outlook of the industry as well as the supply and demand of labour. Among the 15 Task Force members appointed, f i ve inc luding my se l f came f rom the As soc iat ion's Execut i ve Committee (Ex-Co). The Association was invited to the first meeting on 27 March, 2013 to present the findings of our manpower surveys conducted in January 2012 and 2013 which enabled Task Force members to grasp the severity of the problem. We are hopeful the Task Force will look into possible solutions and propose some short-to-long term policies to help address the issue upon the completion of its work this year.

We are also pleased the Government will invest $10 million every year to promote the Qualifications Framework (QF). The amount is to be shared among the 19 industries, including retail, which have launched or are planning to launch QF. Following the consultation to be carried out in Q2, the Specifications of Competency Standards (SCSs) for the retail industry will be launched in Q3 this year, providing a set of comprehensive and systematic benchmarks for the skills, knowledge and attributes required to properly perform the duties in retail positions. We believe that with the extra resources, more promotional activities will be organized to raise public awareness of QF and to attain buy-in from both employees and employers. More importantly, it will help the younger generation realize there are bright career prospects in the retail industry and raise the profile of the retail profession in Hong Kong. We are pleased the Government listened to our views and we are grateful for the support given to the retail industry.

While the Government is now tackling the manpower shortage and promoting QF development, the issue of high operating costs continues to be a concern. Effective 1 May, 2013, the Statutory Minimum Wage will increase to $30 per hour, which adds an extra burden to employers on top of sky-rocketing rental rates and other escalating costs of doing business.

充滿生機、滿載希望的春天已經來到。春回大地不 但令生活更添朝氣，亦為本港的零售業帶來一番新 景象。回顧過去數月的零售銷售額，二月的增長回 升至22.7%，為今年帶來一個好開始，令人欣喜。

零售業的發展前景亦見曙光。我們一直致力提倡推 動業界的人才發展，努力至今終見成果。財政司司 長曾俊華先生於二零一三至二零一四年度財政預算 案中宣布，政府將會成立零售業人力發展專責小 組，研究業界的經濟前景及人力供求。專責小組的 15位成員中，包括本人在內，共有五位來自協會的 執行委員會（執委會）。協會更獲邀在專責小組於 3月27日舉行的首次會議中，匯報由協會於2012年 1月及2013年1月進行的人力調查研究結果，讓小 組成員了解零售人手短缺問題的嚴重性。我們相信 專責小組將會探討各項可行的方案，並在今年完成 工作時，可向政府提出短期至長期的政策建議解決 問題。

此外，政府將會每年撥出1,000萬元推廣資歷架構 的決定，同樣令人鼓舞。該筆撥款將會惠及19個已 經推行或計劃推行資歷架構的行業，包括零售業。 零售業的《能力標準說明》於第二季完成諮詢後， 將會於今年第三季推出，為零售業人員應該具備的 技巧、知識及條件，提供全面而系統性的基準。相 信額外的資源可讓業界籌辦更多宣傳活動，加強市 民對零售業資歷架構的認識，同時獲得僱員及僱主 的認同。更重要的是，此舉將有助向年青一代展示 零售業的理想事業前景，進一步提升本港零售業的 專業形象。政府願意聆聽協會的意見，並積極支持 零售業，令我們深感欣慰。

不過，雖然政府著手處理零售業人手短缺的問題， 並協助推動資歷架構的發展，但經營成本高企仍 是零售商要面對的棘手問題。法定最低工資將由 2013年5月1日起增至每小時30元，令面對租金飛 漲及經營成本急增的僱主百上加斤。

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