}
Tuesday, July 28, 1970
This had bein
the file
INDUSTRIAL WAGES RISE AND THEY CAN BUY MORE
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Labour Department Releases New Index Figures
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до
Industrial employees in Hong Kong are much better off than they
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were six years ago. Their pay packets are bigger and they can buy more
with their money. These are the significant facts revealed by a new series
of statistics released today by the Commissioner of Labour, Mr. R.M. Hetherington.
He said that it was common knowledge that wages had risen over recent
years but few realised the extent of the rise. The Labour Statistics Unit
had recently devised a new index of wages in selected industries and public
utilities using March 1964 as the base period. By March 1970, the index
had risen from 100 to 163, an increase of 63 per cent in six years.
Mr. Hetherington explained that the increase of 63 per cent was an
average. Wages had risen in different industries at different rates. Rubber
footwear recorded the highest increase at 96 per cent and motor-vehicle
repairing the lowest increase at 37 per cent. Others appreciably above
the average were electronics, and metal torch-cases. Those appreciably
below the average were bus operators and motor-vehicle repairing.
others ranged about the average.
All
Mr. Hetherington said that prices had also risen over the past six
years. The modified consumer price index, which used twelve-months period
ending in August 1964 as the base period, recorded a general increase from
100 to 123.2 per cent, a rise of just under a quarter during this period.
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