Hong Kong’s labour minister has dismissed a public appeal to review the city’s minimum wage on an annual basis as “unfeasible”, saying that it would only be possible if the existing two-year process underwent significant reforms.
Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong also said on Sunday that the rise in the minimum wage had previously surpassed that of the city’s inflation rate.
The minister said the Minimum Wage Commission conducted reviews of Hong Kong’s statutory minimum wage rate biennially, as it was only required legislatively to submit a recommendation report at least every two years to the city’s leader, who would then decide on any increase with the Executive Council.
He said that although an annual review was possible at a legislative level, all the other necessary work involved such as research, analysis and consultation under the existing mechanism could only be completed within the framework of a two-year process.
Law called an annual review “unfeasible”, noting that it would require the current process to be heavily streamlined.
“To conduct an annual review, the process of research, analysis and consultation would have to be greatly compressed, or...
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