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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, on the statutory minimum wage and foreign domestic helpers' wages during a public function this morning (May 8):
Secretary for Labour and Welfare: I'll say a few words on the progress of the minimum wage implementation during the first week. During the past week, labour inspectors conducted 863 inspections. Of these inspections, 14 employees suspected that their wage level was below the statutory minimum wage requirement. Our inspectors immediately explained the requirement of the law to the employers to ensure that the employees¡¦ rights are protected, that's the first point. Secondly, we only received one telephone complaint about suspected non-compliance of the law. We have followed up this promptly.
On the employment front, I am very glad that the number of vacancies received by the Labour Department during the past week remained at the previous level, i.e. remained roughly the same as the level before the implementation of the minimum wage. We are now receiving, on average, about 3,000 vacancies from private sector per day. In fact, last Friday alone - May 6, we received altogether 4,170 vacancies which is pretty high by any standard. So this suggests that the implementation of minimum wage has not affected the sentiment of the employers to hire and employ.
On the information front, our telephone hotline received on average 1,000 enquires a day and only six people have approached us for employment assistance because of displacement arising from the minimum wage, so again the figure is not high at all as we are talking about six employees altogether. So on the whole, I would describe the first week of implementation was smooth. We are, of course, monitoring the situation closely and do what we can to help both employers and employees to comply with the law and to help all employees affected by the implementation of minimum wage.
The second question posted by your colleague is about foreign domestic helpers' wages. Every year, we have an established mechanism to review the minimum wage for foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong. In fact, in each and every occasion we liaise with foreign domestic helpers¡¦ unions and employers for an exchange of views. Following that, of course we will study the figures and various indicators before we arrive on any decision on the way forward. In view of the economic situation and rising costs, there is a possibility that the level may go up this year. As for the extent, we have to wait for the outcome of our study.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Sunday, May 8, 2011
Issued at HKT 15:25
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