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Written by: Commentary Editing Room
2021-03-20 07:00
Last update date: 2021-03-20 07:00
The Legislative Council meeting passed a non-binding motion by members on Thursday (18th), urging the government to consider implementing different measures to support the unemployed and underemployed, including the establishment of unemployment assistance and the third round of "guarantee employment". The Secretary for Welfare Law Chi-kwong insisted at the meeting that it is not feasible to set up time-limited unemployment assistance, and asked Members "whether you want to encourage everyone to lose their jobs as soon as possible, otherwise they will not receive assistance."
Law Chi-kwong asked the Honourable Member: "Do you want to encourage everyone to be unemployed as soon as possible, otherwise they will not receive assistance." (Photo by Li Zetong)
How to help is just the details
As early as in the early stage of the epidemic, some Members proposed to provide assistance to the unemployed, but the government at that time refused on the grounds that the authorities had set up unemployment CSSA.
However, the threshold for unemployment CSSA is very high. Under the epidemic, the asset limit for healthy single applicants is still no more than 66,000 yuan, and for families with 4 or more people, no more than 176,000 yuan, which is not very helpful to the overall unemployed.
According to the latest data released by the Social Welfare Department on Tuesday (16th), there are currently only 26,234 cases of receiving CSSA due to unemployment. Compared with the latest figure of more than 260,000 people who are unemployed in Hong Kong, the number of people who can be helped by the unemployed CSSA is always a minority.
Moreover, the unemployment assistance fund requested by the society this time is of a temporary nature. The intention is to take into account that Hong Kong has not made any contribution plan for unemployment insurance before, and it is difficult for the Hong Kong government to finance the long-term support expenditure.
Since the unemployment CSSA can help very few citizens, the unemployment rate has gone from bad to worse with the end of the epidemic and the "Ensure Employment" program. Therefore, the establishment of temporary unemployment assistance is of course to give the unemployed a certain amount of living security while avoiding the system becoming a long-term burden. A compromise solution.
Luo Zhiguang pointed out that an allowance of RMB 5,000 will be distributed to people who are diagnosed at the grassroots level. The beneficiaries are those with "hands and mouths", that is, employees who are entitled to "paid sick leave" cannot receive the allowance.
(Profile picture / Photo by Liang Pengwei)
Poverty must change
The strange thing is that Luo Zhiguang can actually say "whether you want to encourage everyone to be unemployed as soon as possible" for temporary unemployment benefits, as if assuming that the public would actively choose to be unemployed in this environment.
In fact, whether an employee is unemployed or not is not in his own right. In particular, consumption and tourism related industries have been hit hard. It is even harder to say that the unemployed in these fields are what they want.
If people can go to work as usual to earn more income, how can the government's little assistance attract people to give up their jobs?
Long before the government introduced the welfare system, it had always thought that the introduction of welfare by the government would attract the poor to deceive.
However, in the last two phases of the "Ensure Employment" program targeting enterprises, the cost was close to 90 billion yuan before and after, but the government at that time adopted the principle of reducing regulations and not reviewing company accounts.
Regarding the unemployment assistance that directly helps the citizens, the authorities believe that the poor will give up their jobs for welfare.
In fact, if there are loopholes in any system, applicants, rich or poor, may take advantage of it. However, Luo Zhiguang does not examine whether the enterprise really needs assistance. Instead, he first thinks that the general public is "unemployed as soon as possible." This attitude is indeed a negative title.
What the government should change is not only its social welfare policy, but its attitude towards the poor.
The local employment environment has recovered indefinitely, but before that, the unemployed people still have to bear their living expenses, and the bureau has always adopted a negative attitude in related assistance, as if the unemployed have been allowed to save for many years to be consumed by the epidemic.
Seeing that the financial situation of the unemployed has deteriorated, and then they have gradually fallen into the CSSA net. It is hard to say that this is the original intention of the government in launching the social welfare policy.
The Labour and Welfare Bureau Luo Zhiguang 01 Viewpoint