A 130 per cent surge in cases of unemployed people seeking social security payments is to be studied for possible abuses.
Director of Social Welfare Andrew Leung Kin-pong disclosed yesterday that cases of jobless people receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance had jumped 130 per cent in the past two years. This is despite an overall drop in the unemployment figure from 3.6 to 2.6 per cent.
The number of people receiving assistance in August 1995 was 119,000 while last month it was about 179,000.
But cases of jobless people receiving assistance for the same period rose from 6,900 to 16,000, an increase of 130 per cent.
At present, a family of four receives $10,270 in assistance per month.
'There is concern whether there is any abuse of the scheme. Would some people find it better to quit their jobs to receive assistance? Certainly we have to review it and conduct more checks,' Mr Leung said.
