It's not the time to discuss changing the review of the minimum wage from every two years to one year, Secretary for Labor and Welfare Law Chi-kwong said.
The Minimum Wage Commission launched the biennial six-week public consultation on the statutory minimum wage on April 20 to collect information from different sectors, Law wrote yesterday on the Labor and Welfare Bureau website.
The public consultation ends tomorrow.
"I do hope the commission would reach a consensus on the minimum wage under an atmosphere of mutual consideration and negotiation," Law said.
The last time Hong Kong revised the minimum wage rate was on May 1, 2019, and it rose to HK$37.50 per hour.
The rate hasn't changed for four years since the government froze it last year.
Sze Lai-shan, deputy director of Society for Community Organization, said the minimum wage no longer meets the daily living expenses of the people due to the effect of the pandemic, and suggested the hourly rate be raised to at least HK$50.
Labor sector lawmaker Chau Siu-chung said the current minimum wage should be raised to HK$46 and it should be reviewed once a year instead of every two years.
However, Law said it is not the best time to discuss a change in the period of review.
"It is not feasible to review the minimum wage once a year since the process of review requires plenty of researching, analyzing, and consulting work," he said.
"The review can only be conducted under the current once-every-two-years framework, otherwise...
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