No joy over minimum wage

The minimum wage will be frozen for the first time at HK$37.50 in May since its introduction in 2011.

This means the hourly wage rate will remain the same for two more years until May 2023. The HK$37.50 rate was set in May 2019.

The freeze was recommended by the Minimum Wage Commission, which completed the latest round of review in October, despite the workers' side requesting it be raised to HK$40.

But the commission said in its report that most of its members agreed not to raise the current rate after taking into account "the unprecedented blow to the Hong Kong economy and the highly uncertain economic outlook."

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong said yesterday that the latest round of reviews had been conducted while the city was in a deep recession and amid a highly uncertain economic outlook, with a public consultation held from April to October last year. "In such an austere economic environment, maintaining the prevailing statutory minimum wage rate can help strike an appropriate balance between excessively forestalling low wages and minimizing the loss of low-paid jobs," Law said.

He said the employers and labor sides held different views and that the commission's recommendations "reflects a fine balance between different views."

He said the minimum wage should not be understood as the only way to solve the problems of low-income people or the working poor.

Employer and employee representatives also failed to reach a consensus on whether the wage level should be reviewed every year instead of the current two years.

The labor sector requested a yearly review, but Law said the outcome could be different to what they expected, as the minimum wage may go down if the review is conducted every year.

"The commission's review work requires a lot of data analysis, as well as consultations with people from different sectors the two-year time frame is actually very tight," Law said.

About 21,200 employees earned a minimum hourly wage of HK$37.50 between May and June in 2019, government figures show.

The employee representative of the Labour Advisory Board, Bill Tang Ka-piu, said he was disappointed as it means the minimum wage will remain unchanged for four years from 2019, and suggested conducting another review in the summer.

"This means the HK$37.50 will remain at the time when the economy is normal, to recession, and even when the economy recovers," he said.

"The report did not receive a consensus by all commission members and the government has the right to adjust the rate based on inflation," he said.

The Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions expressed concern grassroots workers would have less purchasing power and reduced quality of life under the wage freeze.