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the rate of growth of productivity should increase over
the years to come, and this will be a major factor in
bringing about an even faster rate of growth of real
incomes for all. As a result the opportunities for
better working conditions and more leisure will increase
(and, incidentally, Government's land zoning policy is all
the time making provision for more amenity areas, higher
environmental and housing space standards and so on to
take account of the fact that rising real incomes will tend
to reduce the length of the working week).
educational and training standards will, of course, in themselves bring about a desire for a wider range and
more demanding types of employment, but this will be met
by a further diffusion of technology and a higher rate
of growth of capital investment creating an increasing
demand for highly skilled and academically well-qualified
personnel.
30.
Higher
Finally, because the economy has not been beset
with balance of payments problems, with internally generated
inflation, with the need for sudden and dramatic changes
in public expenditure and taxation policy, with sharp
recessions and unemployment, and so on, there has not
been a build-up of social tensions that uncertainty about
the economic future can bring. The rapid growth, and
yet the stability, of the Hong Kong economy means that a better life for everyone in Hong Kong is assured, and that
makes the future worth working for. In all these circumstances, I do not believe that militancy in employer-employee
relations and cost-push inflation will in the future, any
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