The recent popular demand for a minimum wage law shows that, even after our economic recovery, many people are still earning wages below the subsistence level.
But our economy is dependent on the world beyond our borders. So it would be detrimental to bridge our poverty gap by imposing wages higher than those determined by market forces in a globalised world. That would make Hong Kong less competitive, and the first to suffer would be our least-skilled workers.
Small, externally dependent economies are volatile. During business downturns, a minimum wage would reduce our economy's ability to adjust. Jobs for the least skilled would disappear first. And a minimum wage would never benefit the self-employed.
Now, consider our Comprehensive Social Security Assistance scheme. It has none of the above defects, and it already guarantees workers a standard of living equal to or above what a minimum wage would likely provide.
Take an unemployed, able-bodied couple with two children, aged one and three. They are entitled to monthly CSSA payments of HK$9,974 for basic expenses, plus HK$7,365 for childcare-centre fees, plus all school-related outlays. When the couple earn income, their CSSA entitlement is reduced, but it doesn't fall to zero until their earned income reaches about HK$20,000.
The concept of CSSA is sound. Market forces can create gaps, for some, between their income and a subsistence level of living, It is universally accepted in market economics that those gaps - defined as needs - should be met from the public purse.
CSSA is relatively efficient. Unlike our housing-assistance programme, it does not grant the same, standard benefit to everyone below a certain income level. Rather, it tries to meet the actual need, or shortfall, in each case.