Minimum wage rise won't help city's poorest, figures show
Wage floor goes up to HK$30 as of today, but government figures indicate it will do little to better the lives of the city's bottom earners
The hourly minimum wage goes up from HK$28 to HK$30 today but government figures show it will not benefit the city's worst-paid 10 per cent of workers, prompting calls from unionists that it should go up further.
The figures also show that the number of vacancies in sectors such as cleaning and catering has gone up dramatically since the law came into effect in May 2011, as workers in those fields quit to take up less physically demanding jobs when the pay levels became similar as a result of the wage floor. Restaurant bosses said this had made it difficult to maintain staffing levels.
Confederation of Trade Unions policy researcher Poon Man-hong said the HK$30 "definitely" needs to go up to HK$35.
"The government used the 2011 figures to come up with the new level and said at the time about 300,000 people would benefit. However, the latest figures show this is not the case," he said.
The latest figures from the Census and Statistics Department show that the 10th percentile of the city's workforce made HK$29.30 an hour on average between May and June in 2011.
This figure went up to HK$30.60 a year later, meaning that a new minimum wage of HK$30 will not affect them.
Some 180,600 people made HK$28 an hour between May and June in 2011, while 327,200 made less than HK$30.