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Polly Hui

Young workers living in the New Territories cannot afford the transport costs to get better-paying jobs, survey says

Young people working on Hong Kong Island are paid more than triple their counterparts in Sheung Shui and Tai Po, a study on poverty released yesterday says.

And those living in faraway New Territories districts are prevented from seeking more lucrative opportunities in town, not because of their educational backgrounds but because they cannot afford the cost of commuting.

The study, which interviewed 893 people aged 12 to 25 in the New Territories between July and September, found those working on Hong Kong Island earn a median monthly salary of $9,500, compared to $5,000 for those working in Tuen Mun and Tin Shui Wai, and $3,000 for those working in Sheung Shui and Tai Po.

Of the 194 employed interviewees, the monthly salary of nearly 39 per cent is under $4,000.  Just under 10 per cent of the group earn more than $10,000 a month.

The respondents say the career choices in the New Territories, especially in Tin Shui Wai, Yuen Long and Fanling, are severely limited because of a lack of big enterprises.

But they feel trapped in the districts they grew up in because the cost of transport to the job-rich areas of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island is too high.

Researcher Wong Hung, of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said this was due to  flawed town planning policies.

'When the new towns were built in the New Territories years back, the government's idea was to create self-contained communities. But the study has shown clearly that is not the case in reality,' he said.

He urged the authority to develop cultural, tourism and creative industries in the districts to provide more job opportunities for the young.  'Tuen Mun Park, where elderly people were sadly banned from singing and dancing recently, is a perfect place for young performers and different types of catering.'

Professor Wong said the government should provide short-term transport subsidies for youth who had to travel a long way to work.

'We did not find a significant discrepancy between the education background of our interviewees and their counterparts living on Hong Kong Island or Kowloon,' he said. 'Forcing them to take low-paid, low-skill jobs will only encourage cross-generation poverty.'

More educational resources should be poured into the districts to help young people upgrade their skills, he said.

Legislator Ronny Tong Ka-wah,  one of the leaders of the study, said  yesterday: 'It is like there is glass separating young people in these districts from the rest of the city. They can see Hong Kong Island through the glass, but can never go there.'

Mr Tong said it was shocking to find more than 65 per cent of the 149 interviewees who had been unemployed in the past two years had been out of work for between one and six months. 'These young people were struggling because they only managed to find short-term, low-paid jobs. But all the government cares about are those who are jobless for more than  six months or a year,' he said.

The legislator urged the government to impose minimum wage policies to protect youngsters taking short-term jobs.

The young people also had limited social networks. Each had on average 18 friends. But they said they only trusted 10 of these, and only five of them could help them get a job.



Youngsters battle to bridge big pay gulf with city