Saturday March 20th 2010 Minimum wage formula 'won't work for HK' Martin Wong and Paggie Leung Hong Kong's vast income gap means it cannot apply a simple formula commonly used else where when setting its first minimum wage, an academic says. The debate on pegging the minimum wage to a certain level of the median wage has intensified after a Census and Statistics Department survey found that the median hourly wage of local workers is HK $58.50. In Britain, which the Provisional Minimum Wage Commission visited in a study tour in October,the minimum hourly wage is GBP5. 80 (HK$68) - 47 per cent of the median salary. The ratio of minimum wage to median earnings in Japan is 33.3  per cent. University of Hong Kong demographer Dr Paul Yip Siu-fai said it would be wrong to apply these ratios to Hong Kong, adding that the minimum hourly wage should be set between HK$19.50 and HK$27.50.' The earning distribution is different in various places. The same ratio will have a very different effect on the labour market in different places. And we should note that the city's rich-poor gap is so huge,' he said. Hong Kong's Gini coefficient - which measures income inequality on a scale of 0 to 1, where 0 is perfect equality and 1  is  perfect inequality - rose from 0.518  in 1996 to 0.525 in 2001 and stood at 0.533 in 2006, the most recent year for which data is available.'The gap between the rich and the poor in the city is one of the highest in the world. If we simply set the minimum rate at about 40 per cent like other places, such a gap will be widened,'Yip said.His comments came as many business groups have been pushing for a minimum rate of HK$24- about 40 per cent of the median wage . Dr David Wong Yau-kar, president of the Chinese Manufacturers' Association, said the group would need more time to study the latest figures before proposing a minimum wage level, but noted that in many developed countries it was 40 to 45 per cent of the median wage. If these ratios were applied to Hong Kong, the minimum wage would be HK $23.40 to HK$26.30 per hour. Unionist legislator Lee Cheuk-yan, who called for the rate to be set at HK$33, said the commission should consider the city's high cost of living.'We should also think of the many low-paid workers trying to feed their families,' he said.The census found 469,400, or 16.9 per cent, of the city's 2.78 million workers were paid less than HK$33 an hour. Some 130,200 earn less than the HK$24 that many business groups are demanding. The Provisional Minimum Wage Commission reiterated yesterday it would consider a wide range of factors - including economic and labour market conditions, standards of living and competitiveness, unemployment and inflation and social harmony - before setting the statutory minimum wage in July. Law makers meanwhile debated the calculation of work hours and commission arrangements during a committee meeting on the minimum wage bill yesterday. Tourism legislator Paul Tse Wai-chun said it was difficult to calculate the working hours of tour guides conducting organised tours overseas. 'Should the stand-by hours also be counted?

周六3月20日2013年的最低工资公式“将不适用于香港的马丁先生及梁汤亚卿香港的巨大的收入差距，意味着它不能套用一个简单的公式，常用别的地方设置其首个最低工资时，一个学者说。辩论到一定水平的中位数工资挂钩的最低工资加剧后，政府统计处调查发现，本地工人的每小时工资中位数为HK $ 58.50。在英国，临时最低工资委员会在10月参观考察学习，最低工资是每小时5英镑。 80（港币68元） - 工资中位数的47％。在日本的收入中位数最低工资的比例是33.3％。香港人口统计学家叶兆辉博士萧辉大学称，这是错误的，这些比香港，19.50港元及27.50港元之间，每小时的最低工资应订。收入分配在不同的地方不同。同样的比例将在劳动力市场上有一个非常不同的效果，在不同的地方。我们应该注意到，城市的贫富差距是如此巨大，“他说。”香港的基尼系数 - 这0到1，0地方是完美的平等和1是完全不平等的一个尺度上衡量收入不平等 - 在2001年上涨，从1996年的0.518到0.525 0.533站在2006年，最近一年，数据是可用的。“在城市的富人与穷人之间的差距是在世界上最高的之一。如果我们只是像其他地方的大约40％的最低利率，这样的差距将会扩大，“叶说。他的这番话，许多商业团体一直在推动最低利率为24港元 - 约40％工资中位数。黄大卫医生猷嘉，中国厂商联合会会长表示，该集团提出了最低工资水平之前，将需要更多的时间来研究的最新数字，但他指出，在许多发达国家是40％至45％的工资中位数。如果这些比率适用于香港，最低工资为23.40港元至26.30港元每小时。工会会员立委李焯燕，称为率被设定为港币33，说的佣金应考虑城市的高生活成本。“我们应该也想的很多低薪工人试图养家糊口，他说。普查发现469,400，或16.9％，全市2.78万工人支付不少于港币33小时。约有130,200赚取少于24港元，许多商业团体要求。临时最低工资委员会昨天重申，它会考虑各种各样的因素 - 包括经济和劳动力市场条件，生活水平和竞争力，失业率和通货膨胀率和社会的和谐 - 在设定法定最低工资在7月之前。与此同时，立法者期间最低工资条例草案委员会会议上辩论的计算工作小时及佣金安排昨天。旅游立法会议员谢伟俊津说，这是难以计算工时海外进行有组织的旅行团的导游。如果待机时间也可算？