The statutory minimum wage was officially implemented in May 2011. When it was launched, there were 180,000 employees earning the minimum wage, accounting for 6.4% of the employees. It fell sharply by 2021, with only 14,000 people, less than 1%. What does this reflect? It’s like the boss cannot hire someone at the minimum wage level. He has to use hourly salary higher than 37.5 to before someone can do it. In other words, has the original policy of "preventing too low wages" been achieved?
In fact, this situation is like a coin, with two sides: on the one hand, fewer people earn minimum wages, and poverty is improved; on the other hand, the minimum wage level is really low so that grassroots workers cannot cope with basic life.
Grassroots workers have "no manual additions for four years"
In the past eleven years, the minimum wage has been adjusted six times, from the initial HK$28 to 37 and a half today, with a cumulative increase of 34%; during the same period, the grassroots life Class A consumer price index , the index in 2011 was 75.8, and it is 104.3 today, with a cumulative increase of 38%; that is, the minimum wage has not been able to overcome inflation, and the minimum wage was frozen last year, in disguise, it was not possible to have another adjustment until 2023. Grassroots workers have "no manual additions for four years" and have reduced labor in disguise.
Suppose a security guard who gets the minimum wage works 10 hours a day, and on the 26th of a month, he earns 9,750 a month. If he lives in a subdivided flat, after deducting about 4,500 yuan of rent, he will use 5,000 yuan. Of course, there is no problem with one family. What if he is a family of four? You can imagine their poverty. In fact, Hong Kong has always had poverty problems. Since the government set the poverty line, for ten years, the poor people have been hovering between 1.3 million and 1.65 million people before the intervention of welfare policies, with the poverty rate of 20.6% to 23.6%. Hong Kong's poverty has not improved significantly.
In the 2019 poverty report pointed out that before the policy intervention, the number of working poor people who did not take comprehensive assistance was as high as 664,000. The median monthly household income was 14,200. It can be compared. Using the example of a security guard just now, living and working with the minimum wage was less than 4,000 yuan of working poor median .
statutory minimum wage should be changed to one inspection per year
The author believes that in order to better achieve the purpose of statutory minimum wage, there are two elements that must be reviewed. First, it is changed from one inspection every two years to one inspection every year. The author noticed that Luo Zhiguang, former director of the Labor and Welfare Bureau, explained: "According to the current mechanism, the research, analysis and consulting required in the review process can only be completed within the framework of once every two years!" The facts laid out by the former director of
, the current adjustment mechanism is divided into three stages, involving a large amount of data and a series of indicators, conducting Hong Kong-wide and focused consultations, and collecting social opinions. In 2020, 110 organizations participated in the discussion, and 412 opinions were received. The committee then carried out comprehensive sorting and analysis of the data, plus publicity work, and must pass five levels and win six generals, first reach the new statutory salary level, and handed over to the Chief Executive and the Executive Council for a decision. The author believes that if the committee simplifies the entire review process, it is believed that it is absolutely feasible to greatly reduce the discussions over and over again.
Secondly, set several decisive indicators and directions. Since the committee uses manpower and material resources to make decisions, it is still difficult to reach a consensus between labor and capital. The new team of the SAR government is not as good as seeking the greatest public factor in procedures, such as using a established equation and adding several decisive indicators. I believe that it can greatly reduce the review and analysis of data and make adjustment operations more flexible.
DPP Legislative Council Member Yan Wenyu
(DPP Legislative Council Member Yan Wenyu The article belongs to the author's opinion only and does not represent the position of this website.)
