The public supports changing the law to allow another 130,000 low-income earners to avoid making Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) payments, according to a survey.
Legislators are set to vote today on a change to the MPF Ordinance which will mean people earning less than HK$5,000 a month will not need to pay into the pension fund.
The present ordinance sets the minimum contribution level at HK$4,000. Those earning less than this do not need to pay the 5 per cent monthly salary contributions, but their employers must.
The government says that if the threshold was increased to HK$5,000 a month, it would allow 56,800 workers to save about HK$250 a month, and bring the total number of workers exempt from making payments to 114,000.
However, Democratic Party labour affairs spokesman Andrew Cheng Kar-foo said the party would make a counter-proposal that legislators vote to further raise the threshold to HK$6,000.
He said if the threshold was set at this level, another 130,600 workers would save HK$300 a month, and the total number of exempt employees would reach 278,000.
He said a survey had shown public support for the Democrats' proposal.
