But in an attempt to play down concerns, Commissioner for Census and Statistics Fung Hing-wang maintained Monday the coefficient should not be the only factor with which to gauge the situation on income distribution.

The Gini coefficient is commonly used to indicate income inequality in a society. It is a number which has a value between zero and one. As the value of the coefficient rises, the higher the degree of income inequality in a society becomes. Last year the figure stood at a record high of 0.533, compared with 0.518 in 1996.

Fung hinted the rise was not significant, stressing it was in line with the global trend for developed nations or cities.

"The coefficient being high is not necessarily a bad thing. Whether more help is needed for the poor, we need [other government departments] to conduct more studies," he said, admitting nevertheless the income disparity was indeed getting larger.

He maintained Hong Kong is not a social welfare-led society.

Despite the claims, department statistics show Hong Kong's Gini coefficients, be it the overall, post-tax or tax and social benefit inclusive figures, were the highest when compared with the latest figures from Canada, Britain, New Zealand and Singapore.

The financial, insurance, property and business services scored the highest of Gini coefficients among industries, at 0.544 last year.

Fung said this was due to a wide range of job titles, which have a greater disparity in income, in the field.

Comparatively, he said, wages of blue-collar workers had not fluctuated as much, as evident by the 0.481 Gini figure recorded last year, up from 0.461 in 1996.

But after eliminating the effects of government intentions like tax collection and social benefits granted in the form of education, medical and housing, the Gini figure - released for the first time ever - was stable at 0.427 last year, the same as 10 years ago.

Dividing the population into 10 equal-weighted decile groups, the census department found the median household income for the richest 10 percent of Hong Kongers was HK$78,000 last year, compared with HK$2,400, or 32.5 times more, for the poorest 10 percent.

By percentages, the richest group of households, or top 10 percent income earning families, represent 41.4 percent of money made by the entire population last year, compared with 0.8 percent earned by the bottom 10 percent. That indicates the richest group of people earns 51.75 times more than the poorest.

For individual workers, the median monthly income for the two lowest groups, or the poorest 20 percent of Hong Kongers, fell by 12.5 percent to HK$3,500.

The median wage for the richest two-tenths of locals, meanwhile, rose 20 percent to HK$30,000 per month.

Fung attributed the phenomenon to an aging population, more women - which figures show earn less than men overall - joining the labor force and the work force being better educated.

In terms of household income, 205,515 households, or 9.2 percent of the total number of families, earned less than HK$4,000 a month last year, up from 123,869 households, or 6.7 percent, in 1996.

At the other end of the spectrum, 378,473 families had more than HK$40,000 of income last year, representing 17 percent of all local households, up from 278,703, or 15 percent, in 1996.

"There are more households with older people, which leads to a higher number of poor families, while families with two or more income earners have increased over the years, and their education qualities have become higher," Fung said.

Compared with other developed countries, like Japan's 0.249, the problem of Hong Kong's widening income disparity is very serious, according to Chinese University's department of social work assistant professor Wong Hung. "The Gini coefficient of most developed nations is about 0.3 to 0.4, it's very rare for them to jump up to 0.5," Wong said.

The need for Hong Kong to legislate to protect the minimum wages of low- skilled workers and set up a universal retirement fund for the elderly should not be delayed as Hong Kong's widening income gap has reached an alarming level, Wong said.

Pro-Beijing unionist lawmaker Chan Yuen-han criticized Hong Kong's efforts in alleviating the problem of the widening income gap.

She called for a minimum wage to protect cleaners who are working 12 hours a day for a mere HK$4,000 to HK$5,000 a month.