Labour Affairs
8. Determined efforts have been and are now being made to raise general labour standards by improvements in workmen's compensation, factory safety, paid holidays, severance pay and reduced hours of work. The legislation is backed up by a much strengthened Inspectorate. Much remains to be done but much has been achieved. The employment of children under 14 in industry has long been a problem and last November a large scale programme began to provide every child under 14 with an identity card complete with photograph. When that is complete, I hope we will be able to say that that is
one social problem of Hong Kong that has been solved.
Two key
pieces of legislation have been enacted this year:
(a) Protection of workers against acts of anti-union
discrimination;
(b) Severence pay for workers who become redundant or are discharged through no fault of their own.
The average industrial daily wage of about £2 a day in Hong Kong compares for example with 200 million people in India with a monthly wage of less than £2. But Hong Kong has also had its inflationary problems. The retail price index increased by 15% in the year ending June 1974 and with wages relatively static, there has been a decline in real wages. Employment, however, has continued at a high level although there has been some decline in employment over the past twelve months a reduction of about 28,600 jobs in industry.
E