Job seekers must be aged 40 or above at the time of employment and have an unemployment period of not less than 1 month within 1 year prior to the commencement date of employment to be eligible for joining Employment Programme for the Elderly and Middle-aged (EPEM). Job seekers under EPEM will be provided with mentors and on-the job training by employers. This will enable job seekers to acquire essential job-specific skills.
Prior registration under EPEM is not required for job seekers. After job seekers have secured full-time or part-time (part-time means (1) employed under a continuous contract(Note); and (2) working hours of (i) less than 30 hours per week, or (ii) less than 120 hours in every four-week period) employment from long-term job vacancies accepted for display by the Labour Department (LD), job seekers can submit the completed "Preliminary Application Form for On-the-Job Training" (1,052KB) through the employers to LD within the first month of employment and complete other application procedures.
The new requirement of "continuous contract" is applicable from 18 January 2026@. An employee is regarded as being employed under a "continuous contract" if the following criteria are met:
@ The new requirement has no retrospective effect. For an employment period before this date, an employee is required to be employed continuously by the same employer for four weeks or more and has worked for at least 18 hours or more each week to meet the "continuous contract" requirement.
Job seekers can apply for the post direct or through referrals of LD, depending on the application method selected by employers.
Elderly and middle-aged job seekers can meet with employment officers at Job Centres and receive employment advisory services to discuss their employment needs, to improve job seeking techniques, to obtain information on labour market and training/retraining courses. If you want to make appointment with our employment officer, please approach our Job Centres or click here to submit online application.