Opinion | Solid minimum wage policy will benefit Hong Kong’s lower paid
Hong Kong enjoys a gross domestic product per capita of US$37,927, which is much higher than neighbours such as Taiwan and South Korea
It is reported that Hong Kong’s hourly minimum wage is expected to increase from HK$34.50 to HK$37.50 with effect from May 1 next year. About 150,000 people, mostly security guards and cleaners, make the minimum wage based on official figures.
The HK$3 rise in minimum wage is the largest so far since its establishment in 2011. Annualised, this equals about 4.2 per cent, still lower than the 4.55 per cent general pay adjustment released by the government for middle and lower salary bands.
Hong Kong enjoys a gross domestic product per capita of US$37,927, which is much higher than neighbours such as Taiwan (US$24,402) and South Korea (US$26,152). But the minimum hourly wages of Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea – in Hong Kong dollars – are HK$37.50, HK$38 and HK$58, respectively.
Also, the cost of living in these places – especially housing – is more affordable than Hong Kong. There must be something wrong because our system needs to be rectified. Low-income workers toil hard and their salaries have yet to match the city’s economic performance.
‘Look at how low and degraded we are’: lives of Hong Kong street cleaners
Let’s use the latte index as a measure of how Hong Kong is still behind a number of countries with similar GDP figures. Here, our minimum wages nets us only one latte, whereas Canadians and Australians can enjoy four lattes for their hour’s work.
Hong Kong has made gradual improvements but there is still room for a better quality of living and to catch up with the rate of inflation.