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SCMP Reporter

The conventional view holds that Hong Kong Chinese possess a very strong work ethic. When they are out of work they would rather seek help from friends and relatives to tide them over than rely on handouts from the public purse.

 Not any more. There are increasing signs that they see welfare as an entitlement and no longer attach as much shame as before to applying for social security.

 At a recent seminar hosted by the Government's think-tank (the Central Policy Unit, or CPU), Dr William Wong of the Alberta Advanced Education and Career Development bureau noted some discomfiting developments in Hong Kong's Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) scheme.

 Between 1991-92 and 1996-97, the number of CSSA clients rose from 72,969 to 166,720, an increase of 128 per cent. As a proportion of the population, CSSA clients increased from 1.9 per cent to four per cent.

 What he found most worrying was a phenomenal increase in able-bodied adults seeking assistance because of unemployment, low earnings or single-parent status.

 In 1991-92, the number of 'unemployed' CSSA cases was 2,248. By 1996-97 this had grown sevenfold to about 15,000. This meant almost one in five of the Hong Kong's unemployed population were collecting social security payments.

 In 1991-92, only 3.1 per cent of CSSA clients were classified 'unemployed'; by 1996-97 the ratio had climbed to nine per cent. Those in the 'single parent category' had increased from 5.9 per cent to eight per cent.

 The average cost of each CSSA case also increased over the five years, from $20,498 to $42,778. Everyone agrees the Government should help those who cannot take care of themselves.

 But several welfare workers at the CPU forum warned that a culture of welfare dependence was taking hold.

 The problem, they said, was that it paid to be on welfare. While criticisms were often levelled at the low rates of CSSA payments, what many critics overlooked was that welfare recipients were also eligible for a range of supplementary grants.

 At present, the standard rate of assistance to an able-bodied adult living alone is $1,615 a month, while that for one living with a family is $1,440 a month. The monthly payment for a single parent is $1,760, and that for each of his children is $1,610.

 Although these payments are small, extra grants are paid to cover rent, water and sewerage charges, telephone installation fees and monthly charges, and essential travelling expenses.

 All school-related expenses, including the costs of children's lunches eaten away from home, fees for baby-sitting, day creches, day nurseries and after-schoolcare programmes are also reimbursed.

 Add up the basic payment and the additional grants, and the total assistance can be substantial enough to discourage recipients from seeking a job.

 Sam Chow Tung-shan, executive director of the Employees Retraining Board, said three-quarters of the board's trainees could find work and the other quarter were unemployed only because they lacked the will to work.

 Dr Fernando Cheung, a lecturer in the Department of Applied Social Studies Hong Kong Polytechnic University, urged the Government to create active job-market programmes to ensure there was work available to CSSA clients.

 Regardless of their differences, the consensus of those at the forum was that the CSSA was due for an overhaul; that grants should be disbursed on the basis of need rather than indiscriminately; and that some kind of work experience or re-training programme should be made a precondition of eligibility for handouts.



Change in attitude to the dole