Commission proposes minimum wage rise by HK$2 - but workers not impressed

Hong Kong's minimum wage should rise HK$2 to HK$30 per hour, the group set up to review the pay floor has ruled - a decision criticised by both workers and bosses.

Employers say the 7.1 per cent increase will lead to price rises, especially for food, and higher building management fees.

Unions and workers' advocacy groups say it will do little to ease poverty and will soon be eaten up by inflation, which stood at 3.7 per cent last month.

The Minimum Wage Commission will submit its recommendation to the government next month and the Legislative Council must approve the rise. The new rate is expected to come into force in May at the earliest.

The government's Annual Earnings and Hours Survey, released in March, showed 327,200 workers were earning less than HK$30 per hour last year.

The commission agreed to the proposal after its chairman, lawyer Jat Sew-tong, proposed the HK$30 rate to break a deadlock between employers and workers' representatives, according to one of its 13 members. The group has three members representing employers and three representing employees, as well as government officials and academics. One workers' representative on the commission said he had pushed for HK$33, but agreed to compromise at HK$30. Employers had demanded a smaller rise or a freeze at the HK$28 rate set when the wage floor was introduced in May last year.