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(a) The value of the Gini coefficient as compiled on the basis of the 1991 Population Census was 0.476, while those as shown by the 1981 Population Census and 1986 By-census were 0.453 and 0.451 respectively. Since the 1996 By-census will not be conducted until next March, a more updated estimate of the Gini coefficient is not available at present.
Commenting on the diversity in household income distribution in the community, we should place more emphasis on overall economic growth as this provides the prime driving force for improvements to the income of the community as a whole. In the past 10 to 15 years, our economy has maintained a steady growth. Statistics have also indicated that the income of the general public has increased significantly in real terms. For households at the bottom 20% of the income spectrum, their median household income showed an accumulated increase of 237% from 1981 to 1991, far higher than the 116% increase of the CPI(A) over the same period, reflecting substantial growth in the income of these households in real terms. The median income of the middle income households had a more or less similar growth. It was only because the median income of the high income households had a far greater accumulated growth of 270% that resulted in a higher Gini coefficient in 1991 over a decade ago. However, it is obvious from the statistics that the income of every member in each stratum of society has improved with the continued development of the economy in Hong Kong.
Our economy has been undergoing a rapid structural transformation in the past 10 years. Apart from bringing more business opportunities to Hong Kong, it has also provided more employment opportunities to the local workforce. With the change in the requirements of jobs, there has been a greater demand for professional, managerial, supervisory and technical personnel in our economy. This has led to a faster growth in the wages of these jobs than those of the non-skilled ones. The widening diversity in income distribution as witnessed in recent years is attributable to this. Experiences in other places also show that diversity in income distribution tends to widen in an economy with fast development or rapid structural transformation.