Teens, over-65s hit hardest among 1.23 million poor

Teens, over-65s hit hardest among 1.23 million poor
Record number of people living under poverty line – Austin Chiu (SCMP 28/9/09)

The number of people living under the poverty line in the first half of the year reached a record high of 1.23 million, with the elderly and teenagers hit hard, a study showed.

This means there were 20,000 more people considered poor compared with half a year ago, according to the study by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, which came to the figure using government data. The poverty rate was 17.9 per cent in the first half of the year, compared with 17.6 per cent last year.

The definition of poverty in the study involves people earning an income equal to or less than half the median monthly domestic household income, which is set according to the number of members in a family.

The median for the first half of 2009 was HK$3,300 for a single-member family, HK$6,750 for a two-member family, HK$9,150 for a three- member family and HK$12,650 for families with four or more members.

Across the age groups, people aged 65 and over were revealed to be the most seriously poverty-stricken, with 32.1 per cent, or 270,000, living below the poverty line.

The council expressed concern about poverty among young people between the ages of 15 and 24.

Poverty in that group rose from 15.4 per cent 10 years ago to 20 per cent in the first half of the year. This means there are 180,000 teens and young adults living in poverty.

Council chief executive Christine Fang Meng-sang said: “Many people think that Hong Kong’s economy is reviving as the property market and the stock market are faring well…but the member of people living under the poverty line reflects that the grass roots have not benefited from the so-called economic revival. In fact, poverty is getting worse.”

Long-term unemployment was up from 0.6 per cent last year to 1.4 per cent.

The study also found that the rich-poor divide had widened over the past 20 years.

The median income of high-income earners was 3.6 times that of low-income earners. The first group’s median income had increased 34.7 per cent over the past 20 years, while low-income earners saw their pay drop 3.3 per cent over the same period.

Joblessness among teenagers was the highest, at 12.6 per cent, compared with 4.5 per cent among 25-39-year-olds and 5 per cent among those aged 40 and above.

Fang called on the government to introduce a minimum wage as soon as possible and dedicate more resources to young training. She suggested that the government create more temporary jobs to ease unemployment now.

Responding to the survey findings, Secretary for Labor and Welfare Matttew Cheung Kin-chung said a series of measures had been introduced to help low-income earners. Employment retraining was one measure aimed at resolving youth and cross-generational poverty.

Meanwhile, about 20 people from the Labour Association protested outside the Central Government Offices, criticizing the government for ignoring the needs of grass-roots workers and saying that low-skilled workers would not benefit from development of the six “pillar industries”, which involved new technology and advanced skills.

They petitioned the government to immediately introduce a minimum wage.



2. Summary

Around 1.23 million people are living under the poverty line in the first half of the year, a study showed by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, which came to the figure using government data. The poverty rate was 17.9 per cent in the study, compared with 17.6 per cent last year. The people aged 65 or above were revealed to be the most serious group that they are living below the poverty line. The council also expressed concern about the poverty of young people between 15 and 24.

3. Feedback

Nowadays, most of people are living under poverty line, especially the teens. The main reason of high unemployment rate and poverty number of the people is the low education. Although the economy of Hong Kong is reviving, the low-skilled workers have not benefited because of low education. Actually, in order to the economic revival, there are lots of chances of job in the market. They were not hired by the employers. Besides, they deeply believe that the government will help them. From my point of view, the government should prefer encouraging people to learn more than providing the welfare, chances of job or setting the minimum wage only. Teaching them how to fishing is better than giving them a fish. Therefore, I think that the high number of people living under poverty line can be decreased and improved if the government will introduce more money into education.