Wage increase seeks to have 'relatively mild' impact on costs for enterprises
The Hong Kong government has implemented a higher minimum wage of $42.10 for employees starting this month.
The wage hike applies to a wide range of employees in the financial hub, including those who are:
Employees are also covered by the minimum wage hike regardless of whether they are employed under a continuous contract as defined in the Employment Ordinance.
Those who are not covered by the wage hike are:
Meanwhile, the wage hike also protects employees with disabilities, according to the Hong Kong government.
"A special arrangement is provided under the MWO for employees with disabilities to opt for a productivity assessment to determine whether they should be remunerated at no less than the SMW or at a rate commensurate with their productivity," the government said in a statement.
"For those employees with disabilities who have chosen this special arrangement, their employers must pay wages of not less than the amount calculated according to the new SMW rate and the degree of productivity assessed."
The minimum wage hike was proposed by the Minimum Wage Commission in hopes that it will benefit low-income employees.
It also aims to ensure that the impact on costs for enterprises, the unemployment rate, and inflation will be "relatively mild."
The commission estimated that the additional wage bills from the hike would be about $260 million to $350 million, representing about 0.03% to 0.04% of the total wage bills.
"In particular, the impact would be relatively more visible for those sectors that employ more low-paid employees and have a higher proportion of relevant labour costs," the commission said.
"The additional wage bills for low-paying sectors (LPS) as a whole would be about $170 million to $230 million, representing about 0.12% to 0.15% of the total wage bills of LPS."
