The minimum wage has had a big effect on pay of the poorest workers, new government figures show, and labour groups say the findings support their case for raising the wage floor from HK$28 per hour.
The Census and Statistics Department says the median monthly income of Hongkongers in the bottom 10 per cent of earners was 17.7 per cent higher in May and June last year - the two months immediately after the minimum wage came into force - than in the second quarter of 2010.
Median monthly income for all Hongkongers rose from HK$11,800 in the second quarter of 2010 to HK$12,800.
It says continued economic growth and the wage floor have boosted income levels. 'We can see an increase across all levels of income groups,' Agnes Lo Kit-mui, assistant commissioner, said yesterday.
Unionist lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan said that with inflation still high and the global economic outlook remaining uncertain, the government should consider increasing the minimum wage to HK$33 an hour.
Lee, general secretary of the Confederation of Trade Unions, said he was pleased that the law meant workers were making more money. 'At least their ability to make ends meet and their ability to care for their families is better now,' he said.
Economist Andy Kwan Cheuk-chiu said rising wages, coupled with high inflation during the past two years, meant that the minimum wage should rise to at least HK$30 an hour.