Letters | As Hong Kong waits for coronavirus vaccine, direct support for the jobless would ease many burdens

According to the latest government statistics, there are around 152,000 people defined as low-income individuals (those with monthly income less than HK$9,000), of whom 74,800 are unemployed and 19,100 are underemployed. Besides, with the unemployment rate amounting to 14.8 per cent in the food and beverage sector, 8.6 per cent in the retail sector, and 4.3 per cent in the property management and cleaning services sector, the grass-root community remains the hardest hit by the stagnant economy due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

With these statistics in mind, I see no reason why the government is not able to unveil a short- to medium-term assistance scheme targeting the unemployed and underemployed. The government should be able to estimate the expenditure needed for the scheme within a limited time frame.

After the United Kingdom’s announcement that it would begin offering Covid-19 vaccines this month, Hongkongers are now expecting the vaccine to also be deployed in the city. I wrote to the chief executive recently, urging her to closely liaise with the central government on this, as China has spared no effort in developing vaccines too. If we can secure a supply of vaccines from the central government, that would be critical in tackling the pandemic and enabling a swift economic recovery.

Though the Employment Support Scheme has been criticised by the public as favouring business owners as opposed to employees, there are business owners who acted conscientiously in securing employees’ income upon receiving the subsidy. Unfortunately, however, some employers might have abused the scheme. And some large corporations, the supermarkets for instance, received a huge subsidy under the scheme despite a surge in sales, which suggested a wrongful allocation of resources that upset the public very much.