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Part I : Goal and Plan
My government's goals are to care for the vulnerable and disadvantaged, and to strengthen society's foundation so that more people can better rely on themselves and lead rewarding lives.
This will be done by:
- Helping families to deal with stress to prevent domestic violence.
- Improving education so youngsters can have strong job-skills and life-skills.
- Creating public sector jobs that also realises other social policies.
- Ensuring the socially disadvantaged and minorities are not discriminated against in education and work opportunities.
- Getting people to work through giving transport subsidies.
- Setting a minimum wage to give dignity to low-income work.
- Dropping the idea of a GST.
- Reviewing health and retirement planning to anticipate Hong Kong 's demographic change.
- Formulate a welfare development blueprint and review the subvention system to ensure fair working conditions for social welfare personnel to deliver quality services .
- Using the Commission on Poverty as a multi-stakeholder platform for research, deliberation, debate and engagement.
The key problem is the substantial inequality in our society. Hong Kong has the most uneven distribution of income among the developed economies in the world. Wide and persistent disparities are universally recognised as undesirable socially, economically and politically because it eats at the foundation of achieving a harmonious society. The digital divide contributes to exclusion, and deserves attention .
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Extent of Hong Kong 's Fairness Gap in 2005
- 1,130,000 people were considered ”„poor' with less than 50% of the median household income
- 729,000 people under 60 live in households that earned less than CSSA payment
- 187,700 people over 60 received CSSA
- 116,700 children between 0-14 received CSSA
- 161,000 full-time workers earned less than $5,000 per month, with the lowest 10% earning around $3,000 per month.
The most deprived districts ”V Yuen Long, Kwai Tsing, Tuen Mun, Kwun Tong, Wong Tai Sin, Shamshuipo ”V have more people unemployed, in low-income jobs, and earning less than the median wage.
Source: Commission on Poverty paper 14/2006, July 2006. |
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Part II: Efforts on Many Fronts
A. Help Families Under Stress
Families suffering from long-term financial stress can lead to disharmony among family members, which in extreme cases can result in domestic violence.
My government will:
- Help families to deal with stress by reviewing community level and quality of support for dealing with domestic violence. Research shows 21% of Hong Kong families live with domestic violence.
- Assist sufferers of domestic violence are helped by providing more resources for counselling to both those who are battered and the perpetrators of violence.
B. Facilitate a Capable Society through Education
My government's goal will be to improve the quality of the average Hong Kong student so they can be equipped with solid job-skills and life-skills.
For full details see my Education Policy Pamphlet.
C. Creating Public-Sector Jobs to Optimise Policy Goals
The public sector has the unique opportunity to design public sector low-skilled jobs that also meet other public policy goals in urban planning, environmental sustainability and public health into account.
My government will:
Create ”„smart' jobs that combine the need to create low-skilled jobs in the construction and manual labour sector by ensuring workers apply themselves on infrastructure projects that are well-designed to promote good planning, sound environmental protection, attractive architecture and landscaping, and heritage protection.
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Create ”„clean' jobs where public sector cleaning work must comply with the best environmental and health standards, such as using non-toxic products, and where the public sector employers play a premium for procurement of such services.
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Create ”„good' districts by ensuring District Action Plans include wise rezoning, reviving degraded areas, protecting the environment, and keeping up maintenance so areas with large numbers of low-income households can develop district pride.
D. • Ensure Equal Opportunity to Reduce Disparities
The elderly and the infirm constitute the majority of the urban poor. However, the number of working poor has risen and they are not able to participate in the more stable core labour market because of age, sex, ethnicity and disability. These marginalised workers are largely low-skilled individuals, who need our help.
Income Disparity Index ”V Gini Coefficient
The greater the number the larger the gap
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1971 |
1976 |
1981 |
1986 |
1991 |
1996 |
2001 |
| CG |
0.430 |
0.429 |
0.451 |
0.453 |
0.476 |
0.581 |
0.525 |
| ¢H Change |
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-0.2 |
+5.1 |
+0.4 |
+5.1 |
+8.8 |
+1.4 |
A Gini Coefficient of 0.4 is considered a critical level, which was surpassed in 1971 and continues to widen. Even if adjustments were made for other considerations, such as tax and social benefits, the figure for 2001 would still exceed 0.450. |
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