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17pc of workers earn less than HK$33 an hour
Survey to be factor in setting minimum wage
Martin Wong and Paggie Leung
Updated on Mar 19, 2010
Nearly one in six workers in the city earns less than HK$33 an hour, the Census and Statistics代写留学生论文Department revealed in a detailed survey that will be a major reference in determining thestatutory minimum wage.
Despite the release of the wage and employment data, officials are still a long way fromdeciding what the city's first statutory minimum wage will be and determining its impact onthe labour market.
The department found that 469,400, or 16.9 per cent, of the city's 2.78 million workers,were paid less than HK$33 an hour, the rate unionists are fighting for. The number ofemployees excludes maids, civil servants and the self-employed.Some 130,200 get less than the HK$24 that many business groups are demanding.
The median hourly wage of city workers is HK$58.50 and the median working hours amonth is 192.
Among all industries, the lowest median hourly wage is seen in estate management,security and cleaning services at HK$27.60. Restaurant workers earned HK$32.70 andHK$33.70 per hour was paid for miscellaneous activities, which covered couriers, homesfor the elderly, laundry and food production workers.
The survey was different to the usual labour earnings survey the department doesquarterly."This survey offers more detailed and accurate figures since it interviewed more than
10,000 companies and organisations while the labour earnings survey polled only 2,000,"an official in charge of the survey said. "Also this survey covers part-time workers andmore industries. Companies with less than 50 workers are also included."
The figures will be part of a wide range of information to be considered by the ProvisionalMinimum Wage Commission in setting the city's first statutory minimum wage, which couldbe announced as early as July. The statutory minimum wage would be implemented as
SCMP.com - the online edition of South China Morning Post, Hong Kong's premier E... Page 1 of 2https://www.scmp.com/portal/site/SCMP/template.printACopy/page.scmp_printacopy/v... 20/3/2010soon as the beginning of next year.
"We can't say now what the rate will be based simply on the survey findings," the census
official said.The survey was conducted in the second quarter of last year when the city was still
severely affected by the financial meltdown and had a jobless rate of5.4 per cent. The
latest jobless figure is 4.6 per cent.
The official said he did not believe the survey's findings would be outdated when the wage
was being determined. "The survey is only one of the factors for the commission in
determining the rate," the official said. "The commission will also take more recent
information like the standard of living, labour market conditions, economic growth and
inflation into account."
The official also said the figures in the survey could not be used to estimate the number of
workers likely to be sacked when a rate was set. "It only tells you the number of workers
getting a certain wage, but it would be wrong to estimate how many workers will be out of
a job when a rate is set. Employers may decide to cut into their profits to give more to the
workers. They may ask workers to work fewer hours or they might raise the price for their
products or services."
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said he was concerned