The debate over minimum wage legislation has entered the final stages with the focus now shifting to what level it should be set at. An earlier suggestion of HK$20 an hour by catering-sector lawmaker Tommy Cheung Yu-yan was widely criticised, prompting him to revise it to HK$24.
Both proposals simply reflect the fact that many unscrupulous employers are trying to suppress wages for unskilled workers in order to minimise the economic effects and protect profit margins.
They often use scare tactics by exaggerating the knock-on effects, saying that a minimum wage would create unemployment for older, unskilled workers because employers would rather hire younger people. They also warn that, if the minimum wage is set too high, it might create a ripple effect, causing salary inflation.
These are all unfounded theories because, even if we raised the monthly wage of a cleaner or a dishwasher from HK$4,000 to HK$7,000, it still wouldn't be attractive enough for the younger workforce. In fact, setting a minimum wage is not just an economic issue, it is a social and political one as well.
Cheung said earlier that employers should not be responsible for paying workers enough to survive on. What he said was not only heartless, but also politically incorrect. Society has a responsibility to ensure that a worker's pay will equal the subsistence wage, to provide him and his family with the basic needs to survive. If they can raise a family, that means they can produce a new generation of workers to replenish the workforce for the continuation of the economic cycle.
If these workers can't survive, neither can businesses in the long run. This will also affect society as a whole. It is simple logic, plainly articulated by the Chinese saying: 'With the skin gone, what can the hair adhere to?'