Rich-poor gulf still wide in HK

Hong Kong remains in the top one third of regions with the biggest gap between rich and poor, says Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong.

"The disparity between rich and poor is an indisputable fact," Law wrote in his blog yesterday.

Hong Kong's ranking in the Gini coefficient improved from 60th to 48th in this year's World Competitiveness Yearbook but Law said the city's wealth disparity is still among the top one third of the 64 regions ranked by the report.

The annual report is conducted by the Institute for Management Development from Switzerland.

Law said the improvement for Hong Kong this year came as the Gini coefficient is based on post-tax and post-social transfer household income, which the report has adopted.

He noted that this method of calculation is fairer for making global comparisons as the Gini coefficients for other countries and regions are typically also measured this way.

Separately, a survey on how the pandemic has affected female recipients of the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance scheme shows that 52 percent of 290 respondents saw their emotional problems become more severe due to the effects of Covid-19.

The study was conducted by the Society for Community Organization and the Chinese University of Hong Kong's department of social work.

They found that the anxiety levels of women were double those of other Hongkongers, which could be due to accumulated pressure and concerns stemming from a lack of support.

Thirty-three percent have been diagnosed with depression. Assistant professor Angela Cui Jialiang said the majority of the women are concerned about daily expenditure as well as their children's education and discipline.

The study also found that 41 percent said they were given less support after Covid-19 began as the operation of social welfare organizations and churches were affected due to anti-epidemic measures.

Sze Lai-shan, SOCO's deputy director, said the government should provide special grants under the CSSA scheme to support children's tuition and extracurricular activities.