No fundamental improvement in the second-round employment plan

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Written by: Commentary Editing Room

2020-08-19 07:00

The government announced on Tuesday (18th) the results of the first round of the employment protection plan and the details of the second round. Although the second round of the plan proposed new measures such as combating unpaid leave, there is no fundamental reform that directly benefits employees. What is even more worrying is that, given the epidemic and economic uncertainty, if small and medium-sized enterprises fail to maintain their business and leave the business, the unemployed population may rise again.

The Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong (middle) and the Director of Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office Fung Cheng Suk-yee (left) explained the second phase of the "Ensure Employment" project at 3:30 this afternoon. (Photo by Zheng Zifeng)

The penalties in the first round of the plan were too light, and the number of promised hires could be lower than the number of recipients of funding, and other loopholes were not patched in the second round of the plan. Fortunately, in the second round of the plan, companies that take long unpaid leave may be fined. The new measures also include relaxing the eligibility for elderly employees and requiring large property management companies to return more than 80% of the amount to owners' corporations after receiving subsidies. . In addition, if the two major supermarket groups with less losses due to the epidemic want to apply for the scheme again, the government requires them to give preferential treatment to the citizens in order to fulfill more social responsibilities. Of course, since the details of the feedback have not yet been determined, it is still unknown whether the subsidy will benefit the public. The applicant organization and the government must discuss it as soon as possible so that everyone can evaluate it.

The effectiveness of the first round of the plan is remarkable, and the effectiveness of the second round of the plan is hard to predict. Professor Liang Zhuowei, a government expert consultant, recently estimated that the fourth and fifth waves of outbreaks will occur in the winter, and hundreds of new confirmed cases may be added every day. The situation is more severe than it is now. If unfortunately, the government is bound to tighten the restrictions on gatherings and reduce the flow of people, making all walks of life worse. The applicant company must either cut some of its staff first, thereby reducing the number of promised salaried employees, or apply for the second installment first, and then lay off or close the business after withdrawal. At most, it will return subsidies to the government and pay fines. Both approaches have reduced the effectiveness of job security, and the latter gives employees false hope.

The loophole is not plugged

When explaining the plan, the Secretary for Labor and Welfare Law Chi-kwong emphasized that the penalties would be increased, including the employer’s substantial layoffs in the first phase and no re-hiring, or violation of the plan’s job protection objectives or the public interest during the second phase. Have the right to claim all subsidies back. The incidental penalties are reasonable and reasonable. The problem is that the prospects are unpredictable. When employers have no confidence that business will improve after half a year, the financial pressure will be greater, but the subsidy may be fully recovered. They may simply not apply for the plan and close down to stop the bleeding. The livelihood of wage earners. Conversely, for companies that deliberately take advantage of loopholes, such as requiring employees to quit their jobs, or switching to high-paid employees and then hiring low-paid employees, officials did not explicitly mention whether the above penalties apply.

Self-employed people are the group that has been disadvantaged in the second round of the employment guarantee plan. Luo Zhiguang said that self-employed people's subsidy is a one-off program. If they have applied for the subsidy in the first round of the program, they cannot apply for the second phase. However, both self-employed and enterprises are equally affected by the epidemic. Why can enterprises continue to receive funding, but self-employed people do not? Furthermore, self-employed people in sectors such as entertainers and sports coaches have repeatedly criticized the government for omitting them. The officials did not mention improving their application qualifications in this introduction. They only emphasized that there are 100,000 self-employed people who are eligible but have not applied. The government has yet to appreciate their plight.

The public has been ridiculing the "Protecting Employment" plan as the "Protecting Enterprise" plan. It is not because the people particularly hate enterprises, but the plan is to disadvantage employees in the system, and if an employee becomes unemployed, unemployment protection is not perfect. Since the government can save the economy tens of billions of dollars, the people of Hong Kong hope to use it well.

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Employment Guarantee Program Luo Zhiguang Labor and Welfare Bureau Labor Protection