雙語社評齊齊聽

[英語 (足本收聽)] Presented by CHENG, Yu-ting Joyce, Lecturer of Hong Kong Community College, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

[普通話 (足本收聽)] Presented by Dr QIU, Wei Tina, Lecturer of Hong Kong Community College, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

The Chief Executive in Council has adopted the recommendation of the Minimum Wage Commission (MWC) on raising the Statutory Minimum Wage rate from $37.5 per hour to $40. The increase will come into force on 1 May. The minimum wage is designed to ensure that workers receive wages within a reasonable level so that they can support themselves and their families. But the reality is that even the price of a meal in an ordinary cha chaan teng is higher than the minimum hourly wage. The amount is simply not enough for grassroots workers to live a life with dignity. The minimum wage in Hong Kong has not been adjusted since 2019. The increase of 6.7% this time merely covers the inflation rate over the past three years, and it has very limited use in improving the livelihood of grassroots workers. In recent years, the number of workers receiving the minimum wage has been dropping only because the minimum wage has been set too low and has become increasingly irrelevent to the actual labour market. The whole system must be overhauled; otherwise, the minimum wage will become a meaningless notion that exists on paper only, which will only aggravate the working poverty problem.

[ENG audio 1]

The minimum wage system was implemented in Hong Kong in 2011, and it has been more than 11 years since. The MWC, which is comprised of both workers and employers as well as academics, reviews the minimum wage level every two years and submits recommendations to the government accordingly. As the last review in 2020 coincided with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the committee failed to reach a consensus because the employers strongly refused to raise the amount. In the end, the authorities decided to freeze the minimum wage for the first time. The committee launched a new round of reviewing in the second half of last year. The workers made concessions at the end for fear of having a "wage freeze" again if they failed to reach a consensus. The MWC then proposed to raise the minimum wage by $2.5 to an hourly rate of $40.

[ENG audio 2]

Presuming that one works for 26 days a month and 9 hours per day, after the hourly wage is raised, one's monthly income will be increased to $9,360, which is still lower than the $9,658 that a family of two can receive under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance scheme. The additional income of $585 brought about by the adjustment of the minimum hourly wage is only cold comfort.

[ENG audio 3]

A government economist has said that the city's minimum wage has risen by 43% in total from $28 to $40 over 12 years, while the accumulated inflation rate for the same period was 34%. But over these 12 years, the price of a pineapple bun with butter combo in an ordinary cha chaan teng in North Point has doubled from $14 to $28. The set meal price for afternoon tea at a cha chaan teng around Yau Ma Tei and Mong Kok has even risen from $30 to over $50. All prices have surged by more than 50% — that's the actual situation faced by citizens in their daily lives.

[ENG audio 4]

At present, those receiving the minimum wage in Hong Kong are mostly grassroots security guards and cleaning workers. Their total number is only 14,000, taking up a mere 0.3% of the working population. The number of beneficiaries of the minimum wage increase is believed to be only around 70,000. At the beginning of the implementation of minimum wage in Hong Kong, about 180,000 employees benefited from the system, which was about 4.7% of the working population. The ratio of beneficiaries to workers has continued to drop since then. However, the number of people from working poor households before policy intervention has increased instead of decreasing, rising from 685,000 in 2011 to 805,000 in 2020. That means that fewer and fewer people are receiving the minimum wage not because of some significant improvements in the livelihood of grassroots workers, but because the minimum wage has been set too low and has detached from reality. The adjustment of the minimum wage has been reduced to a mere formality, which invites questions about whether the minimum wage is gradually becoming dispensable "window dressing".

[ENG audio 5]

最低工資與現實脫節 全面改革紓在職貧窮

行政長官會同行政會議接納最低工資委員會建議，法定最低工資由每小時37.5元調升至40元，5月1日起實施。最低工資旨在保障工人薪酬水平合理，能夠養活自己與家人，現實卻是普通茶餐廳一餐飯的價錢，都比最低工資時薪為高，根本不足以讓基層打工仔過有尊嚴生活。本港最低工資自2019年以來未嘗調整，今次上調6.7%，不過是追回這3年多的通脹，對基層工人生活改善非常有限。近年領取最低工資金額的工人愈來愈少，只因最低工資水平定得太低，跟實際勞動市場愈益脫節，整個制度必須全面改革，否則最低工資將形同虛設，失去意義，在職貧窮問題只會變本加厲。

[PTH audio 1]

最低工資制度2011年在港實施，至今11年有餘，由勞資雙方及學者組成的最低工資委員會，每兩年檢討一次，就最低工資水平向政府提交建議。對上一次檢討（2020年）遇上新冠疫情爆發，資方堅拒上調金額，委員會未能達成共識，最後當局拍板，首度凍結最低工資。去年下半年，委員會展開新一輪檢討，勞方擔心若無共識又再「凍薪」，最終妥協，委員會建議將最低工資上調2.5元，至時薪40元。

[PTH audio 2]

以每月工作26天、每天9小時計算，時薪上調後，月入增至9360元，依然低於綜援計劃兩人家庭能夠領取的9658元，最低時薪調整後帶來的585元額外收入，只能說是聊勝於無。

[PTH audio 3]

政府經濟顧問稱，本港最低工資水平12年間由28元增至40元，累計升幅約43%，同期本港累計通脹升幅為34%。但這12年間，北角一間普通茶餐廳所賣的菠蘿油餐，已由14元倍增至28元，油旺地區一間茶餐廳的茶餐，更由30元升至逾50元，全都加價超過五成。這些才是市民真正生活日常。

[PTH audio 4]

現時本港領取最低工資的打工仔，主要為基層保安及清潔員，總數合計只有1.4萬人，僅佔勞動人口0.3%，最低時薪上調的受惠人數相信亦只有7萬許。最低工資在港實施之初，約有18萬僱員受惠，佔勞動人口約4.7%，之後受惠比例持續下跌，惟政策介入前的在職貧窮住戶人數，卻不減反增，由2011年的68.5萬人，升至2020年的80.5萬人，意味愈來愈少人領取最低工資，並非因為基層打工仔生計顯著改善，而是最低工資水平定得太低，與社會現實脫節。最低工資水平調整流於形式化，令人懷疑最低工資正漸漸變得可有可無，淪為「櫥窗擺設」。

[PTH audio 5]

明報社評 2023.01.11