​The Labour Department (LD) announced today (July 15) the launch of the Re-employment Allowance Pilot Scheme (REA Scheme), which is open for registration from today, to encourage elderly and middle-aged people to join the labour force.
The Chief Executive, in his Policy Address last year, announced the introduction of a three-year REA Scheme to increase the incentive to elderly and middle-aged people to rejoin the workforce. Any Hong Kong residents aged 40 or above who are legally employable in Hong Kong and have not been in paid employment for three consecutive months or more are eligible to join the REA Scheme. Participants who have worked full-time for six consecutive months will be provided with an allowance of $10,000, while those who have worked full-time for 12 consecutive months will be given an additional allowance of $10,000. The amount of allowance for participants completing part-time employment will be halved. Each participant can receive a maximum re-employment allowance of $20,000 during the implementation period of the REA Scheme.
Employers of participants of the REA Scheme can at the same time enrol in the Employment Programme for the Elderly and Middle-aged (EPEM), and will be provided with on-the-job training (OJT) allowance. To encourage employers to take on participants of the REA Scheme, LD will extend the duration of OJT allowance under EPEM for eligible employers to six to 12 months.
A spokesperson for the LD said, "The REA Scheme encourages elderly and middle-aged people to return to the employment market, and helps unleash this potential labour force, which is beneficial to both employees and employers."
Persons interested in joining the REA Scheme can visit the dedicated webpage (www.jobs.gov.hk/rea), call the hotline manned by the service organisations commissioned by the Government at 2116 0131 or 2397 7277 or call LD at 2951 4634 for details and registration procedures of the Scheme.
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