District 18 News
Written by: District Licheng
2020-12-24 17:19
Last update date: 2020-12-24 17:19
The government issued a poverty report yesterday (23rd). The report stated that the number of poor people in Hong Kong in 2019 was 1.491 million, with a poverty rate of 21.4%, an increase of 85,000 from 2018.
That is, in 2019, 1 out of every 5 people in Hong Kong will be poor.
Although the situation has declined after the government's permanent cash policy intervened, it still exceeds 1.098 million poor people, and the poverty rate is as high as 15.8%.
The Hong Kong Association of Community Organizations believes that the report reflects that the poverty situation in Hong Kong has further deteriorated and the situation is not ideal. It suggests that the government should review the poverty alleviation policy to meet the current situation.
The government made a public report yesterday evening. The report stated that 392,000 people were lifted out of poverty after the intervention of policies such as Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, Old Age Living Allowance, and Working Family Allowance, and the poverty rate dropped by 5.6%.
Among them, the CSSA and the elderly living allowance are the most effective in poverty alleviation. Last year, 155,000 and 154,000 were lifted out of poverty respectively, and the overall poverty rate was reduced by 2.2%. As for the working family allowance, 47,000 people were lifted out of poverty, which reduced the overall poverty rate. The width is 0.6%.
According to the report, after the intervention of policies such as Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, Old Age Living Allowance, and Working Family Allowance, 392,000 people have been lifted out of poverty, and the poverty rate has dropped by 5.6%.
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The report also pointed out that last year, affected by both local social events and Sino-US trade frictions, Hong Kong's economy fell into recession for the first time since the global financial crisis in 2009, and the labor market weakened significantly in the second half of the year.
Among them, the consumption and tourism-related industries have been hit hard, involving many lower-skilled jobs, so the impact on grassroots families is quite obvious, coupled with the accelerated aging of the population and the continued miniaturization of households, poverty indicators have never been seen before Of rising pressure.
CSSA has not been fully reviewed for more than 20 years
The Hong Kong Association of Community Organizations stated that the authorities attributed the increase in poverty in 2019 to macroeconomic changes, social events that year and the Sino-US trade war.
The Social Association believes that the external economy is irresistible, so the government should take precautions, such as actively thinking about how to strengthen employment support for workers, to prepare for changes in the external environment and social factors, and to deal with poverty problems faced by different communities as soon as possible.
For example, in a comprehensive review of the CSSA system, the Social Association mentioned that, except for one person living outdoors, the subsidy level of other CSSA recipients is below the poverty line, and it is difficult to get out of poverty after receiving CSSA assistance.
In addition, the CSSA system has not been fully reviewed in the past two decades. The government should review the effectiveness of various poverty alleviation policies and make improvements in due course.
Working family allowance application threshold is high, poor people hardly benefit
The Social Association also pointed out that although the government has established a working family allowance and substantially increased the amount of WFA allowance in July, only about 77,000 households have benefited from the WFA scheme, reflecting the lack of poverty alleviation plans.
In addition, due to the social conflict in 2019 and the new crown epidemic in 2020, the economy has been hit hard. Many low-income families are forced to face unemployment and underemployment, and their working hours are forced to reduce. Meet the working hours requirements for applying for working family allowance.
The Social Association believes that the government should relax the wage restrictions for applying for working family allowance under extraordinary time, such as relaxing to one-fourth of the original required hours, that is, at least 36 and 9 hours, so as to allow the plan audience to cover more future Workers who are completely unemployed but underemployed.
As for working poor families, the government should consider implementing a "negative tax rate" system in the long run to directly subsidize working poor families whose monthly income is below the poverty line, so as to avoid the trouble of applying for working family allowance and avoid reduction Their application intends.
Severe unemployment problem of poor young people prompts the creation of internship positions
Regarding the unemployment problem of poor young people, the poverty alleviation report shows that the problem of youth unemployment is severe. The unemployment rate of poor young people aged 18-24 is also as high as 8.9%. Nearly 90% of poor young people aged 25-29 have completed their studies, but 53.9% are still unemployed. 14.7% are unemployed young people.
In this regard, the Social Association recommends that internships should be added to support the employment of young people of different ages and to fund companies to hire young people to join the workforce. The government also provides subsidies to companies to encourage companies to open more internships and increase employment.
High unemployment rate advocates unemployment assistance
In addition, the Social Association also urges the government to set up unemployment assistance as soon as possible to help the unemployed.
The Social Association pointed out that the current government's programs to support the unemployed and underemployed are all one-off and benefit a small number of people, and the existing employment protection programs and CSSA cannot help this group of people.
In response to the high unemployment rate, the government should establish unemployment assistance, and set up non-contributory unemployment assistance outside the CSSA system. For example, the unemployment assistance allowance is 80% of the normal monthly income, and the maximum is $16,000. Six months allowance.
With the economic downturn, the income of the elderly has also been greatly affected. The report even shows that many poor people are retired elderly.
The Social Association proposes to increase the level of allowances for the elderly to ensure that the recipients' income can reach a level above the poverty line after receiving the allowances, and to strengthen the economic support of the welfare policy for the poor elderly.
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Poverty Alleviation Committee Poverty Alleviation Poverty Poverty Line Elderly Grassroots Unemployment Rate
