44
EMPLOYMENT
prolonged to as much as three hours. Except where continuous production demands a rotation of rest days, Sunday is the day most commonly given. Rest days are usually unpaid. Many male industrial workers do not have a rest day but it is customary to grant unpaid leave on request.
Retail Price Index. The Commerce and Industry Department compiles and publishes a monthly retail price index. It covers a wide range of items found in the normal budget of both industrial and white-collar workers, calculated on the basis of a survey carried out in 1948. A base of 100 for March 1947 is used. Although Government has abandoned the payment of variable cost of living allowances based on this index, except for lower paid grades, some employers still follow the scales of cost of living allowances published monthly by the Labour Department.
The index remained fairly steady in 1962, varying only between 118 and 123. Variation was attributable generally to seasonal influence and in one case to typhoon Wanda which affected commodity prices. Despite this comparatively narrow range of fluctuation, complaints about the alleged inadequacy of the retail price index were made to the Labour Department in the early summer by workers' unions of various political affiliations. The complaints were particularly directed against the weight given to rent in the index. They stressed that rent in the index was related to controlled premises but that, due to the extensive reconstruction which has taken place in Hong Kong during recent years, only a few industrial workers enjoyed the benefit of being accommodated in pre-war premises, the rents of which are controlled. Reference was also made to increases in the rents of commercial premises and the inevitable transfer of this burden to consumers, including industrial workers, in the form of higher prices. In the autumn, Government announced its decision to carry out a budgetary survey of household expenditure with a view to preparing a consumer price index. The survey, which is to be made by a special unit in the Commerce and Industry Department, is expected to begin in April 1963.
LABOUR ADMINISTRATION
Labour Department. The rapid expansion of local industry since the war has been reflected in a corresponding growth of the Labour