Instead of squeezing money from vulnerable, government must raise quality of life for poor
PAUL YIP
PUBLISHED : Friday, 06 November, 2015, 12:00am
UPDATED : Friday, 06 November, 2015, 12:00am
Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah. Photo: Bruce Yan
Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah has expressed concern about paying HK$12,000 a month to dish washers. At the same time, the government has said it is determined to improve quality of life for the working poor.
There are more than 140,000 households, comprising more than 460,000 people, including children, not receiving CSSA but working hard and still earning less than 50 per cent of the city's median household income.
The government is aiming to give HK$600 a month to each low-income earner and another HK$800 for each child in these poor families in the coming year. The support will no doubt ease their financial burden.
But apparently, the financial secretary does not appreciate the difficulties confronting hard-working low-income workers whose contributions we should all be grateful for.
Hong Kong is a high-income city in terms of our gross domestic product, but wages for low-skilled workers are meagre. These workers work up to 12 hours a day, six days a week, but still can't earn enough to support their families. Instead of squeezing money from the vulnerable, why can't the government create more wealth and opportunities for all?
Housing Authority figures show the number of applicants for public housing increased from 247,900 in 2013 to 284,000 last year. The queue is likely to be in place a long time. About 27 per cent in the queue have attained a post-secondary educational level, and the medium household income among public housing families is less than HK$12,000.
Wages for workers with post-secondary qualifications did not increase much over the past decade. With such low wages, they are still eligible to apply for public housing.
Hence, the long waiting times are an outcome of a combination of undesirable factors: large income disparity, high housing prices and an imbalanced economy.
We should not be using the dish washer as an easy target - they can't defend themselves and not many people seem keen to defend them. It is the government's responsibility to cultivate a conducive economic environment to create wealth and opportunities for all. The main challenge is to improve wage levels for our low-income workers while ensuring businesses can flourish.
Sometimes, government support is needed. This is an acid test of whether the financial secretary can actually deliver.
Paul Yip Siu-fai is a professor of social work and social administration at the University of Hong Kong
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1876027/dont-target-defenceless-dish-washers-mr-tsang-concentrate
