01 view
Written by: Commentary Editing Room
2020-08-16 07:00
Last update date: 2020-08-16 07:00The government’s first phase of the "Employment Protection Plan" is about to be completed, and the second phase of the plan is in preparation, and details will be announced in the future. However, it seems that the first round will be followed and the loopholes will be fixed at most. For the truth.
The best support is actually unemployment assistance, and it is rarely the consensus of the democrats and the establishment. However, officials repeatedly refused to establish it, only to relax the unemployment CSSA eligibility and pay a single time. The "01 View" has pointed out that after doubling the asset limit, it will only be 176 thousand yuan, and that even a small amount of household savings will exceed the limit. Coupled with the long-term stigma, the measures will not attract most short-term unemployed.
Director of the Bureau of Labor and Welfare, Luo Zhiguang, pointed out that the contents of the second phase of the "Ensure Employment" plan will be announced in August. (Information Picture/Photo by Li Zetong)
The job security plan may fail
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong once said that unemployment relief payments encourage employees to resign and employers to lay off employees. There is plenty of room for discretion. The limited unemployment assistance is not a 100% subsidy to employees' salaries, and employees will not give up their jobs in a swarm. Over there, employers can also take advantage of the employment insurance plan, such as requiring employees to take unpaid leave, or to "swap out" high-paid incumbents and "swap in" low-wage employees. Why does the government only focus on the loopholes in unemployment assistance?
Furthermore, even if there are no loopholes in the plan, it does not mean that employment can be maintained, because some companies are difficult to continue, and the subsidy will be refunded if they consider preferential fines. Yang Weixing, chairman of the Hong Kong Catering Management Association, was interviewed by a newspaper earlier. The epidemic and the ceiling dine-in order hit the catering industry, and the salary subsidy failed to stop the bleeding. He also quoted a chain group considering refunding funds and cutting branches. If this result occurs on a large scale, it is equivalent to announcing the failure of the employment guarantee plan.
Third, Luo Zhiguang worries that the unemployment assistance payment will not fall, and that short-term plans will become long-term plans, which will increase the burden on the government. He gave an example. From the Asian financial turmoil to the post-financial tsunami, it took about 20 years to return to full employment. If unemployment assistance were established, the government would spend a lot of money.
According to the idea of securing employment, if the economy continues to be sluggish, the government will also reserve funds to respond to the demands of the business community, and securing employment will not be a short-term plan. Furthermore, if unemployment is a long-term problem in society, long-term measures are needed. The whole society must also discuss sustainable unemployment subsidies, such as multi-funded unemployment insurance, or at least increase taxes for unemployment protection.
The Confederation of Trade Unions has recently received 47 complaints, alleging that employers receive subsidies, but employees have been laid off, forced to take unpaid leave, and converted from monthly salaries to daily salaries. They denounced that the "Protected Employment" program was full of loopholes. (Photo by Yuan Shu)
Cross-party support for unemployment assistance
Even the establishment camp, including the political parties whose members have joined the Executive Council, has publicly asked the government to step up to help the citizens weather the economic downturn. The Pakatan Rakyat recently met with Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, and again proposed the establishment of short-term unemployment assistance after April and June. The party proposes that the plan lasts for half a year with a monthly subsidy of not less than 8,000 yuan.
Based on an estimate of about 240,000 unemployed people in the second quarter of this year, the total amount is 11.5 billion yuan. If the number of people rises to 300,000, the amount will be 14.4 billion yuan. If we relax a little bit, the underemployed population will receive half of the subsidy. Based on a population of 200,000, the amount will be 4.8 billion yuan, and the two sums will total more than 19 billion yuan, covering 500,000 people. As for the first round of employment protection plan, the government has allocated at least 43 billion yuan so far, promising about 1.87 million salaried employees.
The beneficiaries of the two schemes are not the same and it is difficult to compare directly. However, there is no doubt that unemployment assistance can be directly targeted at the group with the most financial needs, including the self-employed, and the government does not need to waste money. Companies affected by the epidemic.
The organizations that support the introduction of unemployment assistance include the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong and the Federation of Trade Unions. They also have representatives participating in executive meetings. The next question is whether these groups accept or take further actions when all parties and factions also ask the government to strengthen unemployment support, and the government is still the same.
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