Fifty youths of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance families will be selected for pilot project My STEP, a programme that helps youngsters find work.

They will come from Tin Shui Wai, one of the pilot districts taking part. An experienced non-governmental organisation will follow up on the participants' job placement.

The Commission on Poverty's Task Force on Children & Youth Chairman Dr Philemon Choi said the project is the first step to tackling tough youth unemployment cases.

"We will look into the factors behind the hardcore cases, and make policy recommendations as to how to better tackle the problem."

Youth unemployment

Last year 3,750 able-bodied unemployed youths aged 15 to 24 were on CSSA. Among them, 2 000 were referred for the most intensive assistance available, while 704 remained unemployed.

These youngsters have been on CSSA for more than five years and 30% have never worked. Without more focused action to help them, it is difficult to see how they can be motivated to work and achieve self-reliance, Dr Choi said.

At its third meeting today, the task force noted that while material poverty is relatively easy to measure and compensated for, whether and to what extent material compensation can prevent intergenerational poverty is far less certain.

Intervention strategy

It agreed that material well-being is but one of the many variables affecting the development of the younger generation, and parenting quality, availability of role models and value education have a crucial impact on children and youth in developing a positive attitude and a sense of self-responsibility and self-worth.

An intervention strategy should tackle both environmental and personal variables. The task force agreed to further consider policies and measures which supported development in this direction.