In Hong Kong there is no legal minimum wage. (The only exception is an extremely low minimum wage is set for foreign domestic helpers employed in Hong Kong.)

On several occasions in the past five years HKCTU has attempted to use its representatives in the Legislative Council, combined with popular campaigning and protests, to force the government to introduce a legal minimum wage. The minimum wage bill put to the Legislative Council by HKCTU General Secretary Lee Chuek-yan, in April 1999 was defeated, and the government continues to claim that the economy would suffer from such measures.

A legal minimum wage (set at level that would allow a decent standard of living) is both a fundamental right of working people and one of the measures necessary to reduce poverty and inequality. Hong Kong has one of the highest rates of inequality in the world. The average income of the wealthiest 10 per cent of the population is 23 times higher than the poorest 10 per cent. This extreme inequality, and the refusal of the government to provide social welfare assistance and introduce minimum wage laws was condemned by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as a violation of economic and social rights of Hong Kong citizens.

In HKCTU's report to the UN Committee in Geneva, we pointed out that the majority of people living in poverty in Hong Kong are in employment. (In 1999, when the unemployment rate reached its historic peak of 6.3%, less than one-fifth of poor households were directly hit by unemployment). The primary cause of poverty in Hong Kong is not unemployment, but low wages. In this context HKCTU has argued that the absence of minimum wage legislation has allowed the growth in the number of working poor. In 1999, the number of working poor - those persons with a paid job but still living in poverty - was about 250,000. If we include the total number of household members, this adds up to 1.2 million people.

See> HKCTU demands minimum wage laws [April 25, 2002]