The most wealthy people in Hong Kong will earn over 60 times as much as those with the lowest income in the first quarter of 2023. Therefore, this creates the biggest income disparity in decades.
The lowest 10% of families in Hong Kong have median monthly incomes of HKD $2,300 (USD $294.07), according to Oxfam Hong Kong, an NGO working to eradicate global poverty. This was 57.7% less than the median monthly income of the wealthiest 10% of families, which was HKD $132,600 (USD $16,953.80).
According to data from the Census and Statistics Department, more than 1.36 million Hong Kong residents are poor. 210,000 of them were working while more than 80% are working in low-skilled jobs such as retail, accommodation, and food service.
The issue of wealth disparity is becoming worse despite society returning to normal, according to Karlina Tsang, director general of Oxfam Hong Kong. Alarm bells have gone out for the entire society because of the low-income households’ delayed comeback.
The NGO ascribed some of the expanding disparity to the loss of low-skilled positions during the pandemic as well as certain companies’ digitalization during COVID-19, which resulted in some job losses.
The NGO suggested that in order to lessen the growing income disparity, Hong Kong government should increase the minimum wage annually in order to keep up with inflation. This will offer better income protection and attract new talent. The Hong Kong Free Press reports that they suggested the government support the concept of a “living wage” so that workers could cover costs such as housing and urgent medical care as well as improving childcare facilities to encourage women from low-income households to enter the workforce.
