The Finance Committee of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) approved the appropriation application of the HKSAR Government on the 12th and injected 43 billion yuan (Hong Kong dollars, the same below) into the epidemic prevention and anti epidemic fund to implement a new round of employment protection plan. The chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Mrs Carrie Lam, welcomed this and said that her goal was to start accepting applications in late April to provide timely financial support to all walks of life affected by the fifth wave of the epidemic. Lin zhengyue'e expressed her heartfelt thanks to the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council for giving full play to the spirit of cooperating with the administration of the executive authorities for the people. After approving the injection of 27 billion yuan into the epidemic prevention and anti epidemic fund in February this year to implement the sixth round of support projects, she quickly passed 43 billion yuan to implement the "employment guarantee in 2022" plan. The new Legislative Council of one heart and one mind can fully reflect the difficulties of the public and the enterprises in solving the difficulties faced by citizens and enterprises under COVID-19. After the HKSAR government announced the preliminary framework of the "2022 employment guarantee" plan on March 18, many legislators and relevant industries expressed strong support, but also put forward additional demands. After listening to the opinions of all parties, the SAR government announced the improved version of the "2022 employment protection" plan on April 7, introducing optimization measures, including abolishing the monthly salary ceiling of employees eligible for wage subsidies, and covering part-time employees, temporary employees, self-employed persons with MPF accounts and employees aged 65 or above. The SAR government estimates that the improved "employment guarantee in 2022" plan will benefit about 160000 employers, 1.6 million employees and 140000 self-employed people. Lin zhengyue'e stressed that when implementing the new round of employment protection plan, the SAR government will take the simplicity and convenience of the application process as the main premise. It aims to accept applications in late April and strive to grant subsidies to the first batch of successful applicants in early May. Lin zhengyue'e believes that the "employment protection in 2022" plan, together with the fifth and sixth rounds of epidemic prevention and anti epidemic fund measures launched by the SAR government earlier, together with a series of relief measures in the 2022-2023 budget, will help accelerate the obvious rebound of the local economy after the fifth wave of epidemic subsides. (Xinhua News Agency)