TNAG-0230-FCO40-266-Conditions-of-employment-of-labour-force-in-Hong-Kong-1970 — Page 142

Expech by 8. Y. Chung at the sitting of the Legislative Council on February 11, 1970

Employment (Amendment)(No. 2) Bill, 1970

Your Excellency, it is generally accepted that two major criteria in the measure of economic progress in a community are real wages and working hours. The success of economic development is, therefore, depicted by rising real wages and reducing working hours.

During the past ten years industrial wages in Hong Kong have gone up at average rate of about 9 percent per annum and, with an inflation of approximately 3 percent per annum as reflected by the retail price index, real wages in industry have been rising at a rate of about 6 percent per

This annual compound incfomental rate of 6 percent in real wages,

I believe, is high by any standards. Furthermore, it was reported that the average wage increase in industry during 1969 was well over 12 percent.

Unfortunately, statistics for wage movements in non-industrial sectors are not available. Nevertheless, indications are that wage incrementa in ser-

vices were not lagging very much behind those in industry.

Coming to working hours my honourable Friend, the Commissioner of Labour, has already pointed out that it is at present compulsory for an industrial employer to grant to all young persons aged 14 to 17 years and all women one rest day in every seven days. Most industries employ both men and women in good proportions working side by side and are, therefore, governed as far as working hours are concerned by labour legislation intended for women only. Accordingly, many male employees in industry are already enjoying four rest days a month.

The situation is, however, quite different in non-industrial sectors. Persons working in restaurants, retail shops, cinemas and particularly households do not customarily have fixed rest days every month. The

introduction of this bill will hence benefit many employees in the non-

industrial sectors of our community.

On the other hand, the proposed Bill will likely cause hardship to some employers in the non-industrial sectors. Clause 1 of the Bill specifies that it shall come into operation on the first day of April 1970. Since the third reading will not take place until the end of this month, it will give only one month for employers to make necessary arrangements. This period of notice seems rather short especially for those employers in

/ Cont'd.