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The following is the transcript (English portion) of the remarks made by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, at a media stand-up today (February 27) on the establishment of the Provisional Minimum Wage Commission:
Reporter: Can you highlight the tasks for the commission?
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare: The commission is tasked to advise the Chief Executive on the appropriate mechanism for determining the statutory minimum wage and in particular the initial rate, in other words, the starting rate, which is very important. In the process, the commission will consult widely stakeholders in the community and also it will follow an evidence-based approach. It is very important. Also in the process of determining and advising on the initial rate, it has to strike a sensible balance between four elements. First of all, it has to forestall excessively low wages in Hong Kong; secondly, it also has to minimise the possible loss of low-paid jobs; and at the same time, sustaining Hong Kongˇ¦s overall competitiveness and economic growth. In other words, it got to strike a sensible balance among four different elements. Their task is very important and I am very grateful that they accepted the appointment. It is a mission.
Reporter: Is there any condition that the setting of wage would be done ˇKˇK say even in an unemployment rate at 6% that there is no way ˇKˇK defer ˇKˇK.
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare: Now that we have established the commission, it will go about its tasks in a comprehensive, objective and impartial manner. To tie in with its work, the Census and Statistics Department will be mounting a very large scale wage data survey starting in the third quarter of this year and the database will be in the second quarter of this year. In other words, in the third quarter, it will collate and analyse the data collected in the second quarter covering a wide spectrum of occupations and trades as well in Hong Kong. We have never done minimum wage before. So we got to start from scratch and we have to have an evidence-based approach, which is very, very important, a firm, objective base on which to build on future reviews. That survey will cover 10,000 enterprises of various scales, particularly small and medium enterprises, and also target 60,000 employees of various sectors. So the data will be available towards the end of this year and then, the data, the findings plus the analysis will be available in the first quarter of next year. Hopefully, we expect the commission to arrive at the recommendation on the initial rate in the first half of next year, probably in the second quarter. So that is the timetable.
Reporter: Can you explain ˇKˇKignoring the wishes of the community? They want the minimum wage ˇKˇKThere is some concern about pro-Government membership? There are too many pro-Government members in the commission.
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare: On the first question, actually, views are divided in the community as to whether we should implement minimum wage at this juncture. As I explained clearly, there is no cause for concern because we are not talking about implementing it tomorrow. There is a lead time, a fairly lengthy lead time. We are talking about at least 18 months from now before we can actually see the minimum wage in place if everything goes well ˇKˇK So the concern is totally unwarranted.
Secondly, we appoint members in their individual capacity, not because of their background, not because of their affiliation, companies, organisations. They are all there in their own right. We hope that the commission will function as an effective, objective, impartial and totally detached forum to look at this very critical issue of minimum wage.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Friday, February 27, 2009
Issued at HKT 20:45
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