Government should get to the root of poverty
文章日期:2017年12月22日

雙語社評齊齊聽

[英語 (足本收聽)]

[普通話 (足本收聽)]

THE number of people living in poverty in Hong Kong has risen to an eight-year high. Government officials, though promising stronger action to alleviate poverty, said that the ageing population was causing upward pressure on poverty figures, and there is little room for the poverty rate to come down. The government has vowed to improve people's livelihood, and the alleviation of poverty should be its focus. The government should not say prematurely that poverty alleviation is a lost cause and concede defeat before making a real effort.

[ENG audio 1]

According to the latest poverty figures published by the government, 1.352 million Hong Kong people are living in poverty, the highest number since 2009. After the government's recurrent cash policy intervention is taken into account, there are still 996,000 people living in poverty. The poverty rate is 14.7 per cent, a rise of 0.4 percentage points on last year and the first rise since 2009. Government statistics also show that the problem of elderly people in poverty has deteriorated, as the number is now near 340,000. Over the past few years, the government has apparently stepped up its poverty alleviation measures. There are two reasons why the population in poverty is still rising. First, the existing anti-poverty measures are inadequate and are not strong enough. Second, the poor population is rising at such a rapid rate that the existing anti-poverty measures cannot cope with it. To deal with the first problem, it is necessary to make a technical improvement, while the second problem calls for a comprehensive review of the policy.

[ENG audio 2]

The Low-income Working Family Allowance (LIFA) was thought to be the government's trump card against poverty. However, as of last year, the number of people who had benefited from the scheme was just a little more than 30,000, much lower than the government had expected. Red tape and the high threshold are among the reasons why the scheme has drawn such a lukewarm response. It has been found in some non-governmental surveys that many beneficiaries of the scheme who are not public housing tenants have to use the allowance for rent payments. They cannot even spend the extra Child allowance on their children's education. As the LIFA has failed to achieve what it is supposed to achieve, even Law Chi-kwong, the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, admitted that the policy was not forceful enough and needed improvement.

[ENG audio 3]

The government is hoping to improve the LIFA scheme as well as launch the higher tier of assistance under the Old Age Living Allowance (Higher OALA) next year to benefit more people. The government's aspiration to improve the efficiency of its policies is laudable. However, it is questionable whether this will achieve a significant improvement to the poverty problem. After all, poverty as a problem involves many structural factors, which makes a comprehensive strategy necessary. The redistribution of wealth by the government cannot possibly solve the problem once and for all. For instance, the LIFA scheme has achieved little in enhancing households who are not tenants of public housing, and the failure stems from rents. If the government fails to help these people get onto the property ladder as soon as possible, the effectiveness of its anti-poverty measures will be significantly affected.

[ENG audio 4]

Globalisation has led to structural changes to labour markets in developed regions, making it difficult for low-skilled workers to find a stable and secured job. This is a major reason why the poverty problem is deteriorating. The advent of AI and automation will further worsen the situation. The International Labour Organisation has pointed out that the greatest obstacle to eliminating poverty is the lack of stable jobs. Poor people are not protected by employment and income safety. To get to the bottom of poverty, the only solution is to create more high-quality job opportunities for poor people. Hong Kong's social security net is riddled with problems. Improvements are necessary. However, when combatting poverty, the government must be far-sighted and review and incorporate policies from housing to employment.

[ENG audio 5]

不要「愈扶愈貧」 必須治標治本

全港貧窮人口升見8年新高,政府官員承諾加強扶貧,惟表示人口老化令貧窮數字面臨上升壓力,貧窮率顯著改善空間不大。政府矢言改善民生,扶貧是重點工作,不能打定輸數,未戰先降。

[PTH audio 1]

政府公布最新貧窮數字,全港共有135.2萬貧窮人口,是2009年以來新高,經政府恒常現金政策介入後,貧窮人口仍然有99.6萬,貧窮率為14.7%,較前年上升0.4個百分點,是2009年以來首次上升。政府數據還顯示,去年長者貧窮問題惡化,人數接近34萬。過去數年政府已顯著「加碼」扶貧,可是貧窮人口仍然上升,原因不外有二,一是現行扶貧措施有欠完善,力度不足;二是貧窮人口增加速度太快,既有扶貧工作不克應付。前者需要的是技術層面改良,後者需要的是全面審視政策。

[PTH audio 2]

低收入在職家庭津貼(下稱「低津」),本是扶貧政策王牌,可是去年受惠人數卻遠遜政府預期,僅得3萬多人,申請手續繁複、門檻偏高均是反應冷淡原因,有民間調查更發現,很多非公屋受助家庭,都要將津貼用來應付租金,至於額外的兒童津貼,也無法用於子女教育。「低津」未能發揮預期效力,就連勞福局長羅致光也表示,政策力度不足,必須改良。

[PTH audio 3]

政府希望明年落實改善「低津」計劃,以及推出「高額長者生活津貼」,讓更多有需要人士受惠,提高政策效率之心值得肯定,然而是否足以令貧窮問題顯著改善,仍是一大疑問,皆因貧窮問題牽涉很多結構因素,需要通盤策略,並非單靠政府財富再分配就能一了百了。舉例說,「低津」政策對非公屋受助家庭改善生活幫助有限,一大原因是房屋租金問題,如果政府無法盡快讓他們「上樓」,扶貧效力必然大打折扣。

[PTH audio 4]

全球化令發達地區勞動市場結構改變,低技術者難覓穩定和有保障的工作,成為貧窮問題惡化一大原因,隨着人工智能和自動化發展,未來情况恐變本加厲。國際勞工組織指出,消除貧窮的最大障礙,是穩定的工作不足,未能提供就業和收入安全,為窮人創造更多優質就業機會,才是減少貧窮的治本之法。香港社會安全網仍然百孔千瘡,必須改善,惟政府的扶貧工作,也需要更闊視野,由房屋到就業政策,都有需要檢討配合。

[PTH audio 5]

明報社評 2017.11.21

Presented by lecturers of Hong Kong Community College, PolyU and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Mr TSANG, William Wai-sum

Associate Division Head

hkcc-polyu.edu.hk/staff_directory/language_communication/TSANG,_William_Wai-sum-75.html

焦妮娜

講師

www.hkcc-polyu.edu.hk/staff_directory/language_communication/JIAO,_Nina-108.html

【Bilingual Editorial】