3.
iv
industry together into personnel management committees at which
wage levels can be and are discussed. Its Pay Investigation Unit
surveys 68 major firms annually. Second, a number of public and
private organizations conduct and circulate surveys of wages
(Productivity Centre, CMA, etc) to subscribers.
Third, many
usually within the
Finally there is a
large employers conduct their own surveys formal and informal (eg picking up the phone and ringing around)
one industry, but sometimes more widespread.
multiple hierarchy of employers' associations, whose prime func-
tion may not be to exchange information about wages, but which
effectively provide a forum for just that. These range from fairly
catholic organizations, like the FHKI and CMA, down to small,
highly specific groups like the cotton spinners. The degree of
formity of this "exchange of information" varies, but the
consequence is the same - any employer with access to the above
sources need not depend on his workers for data about wage levels.
This is a different matter from the question of collusion between
employers to regulate wages, but obviously is it a necessary condi-
tion for any such collusion. Perhaps the most revealing point was
the discovery that the cotton spinners divide their territory into
three districts for the purpose of discussing wage levels. This
indicates that the labour market is geographically segmented to a
greater degree than would be supposed by a casual look at
Hong Kong's settlement pattern.
Restrictions on the physical mobility of labour:
Transport costs play a large part in workers' choice of employ-
ment. It is said that they are reluctant to commute far, and there
is evidence of their sensitivity to this issue in the general outcry
that follows an increase in the cost of public transport. Many firms
provide free transport in order to get over this problem and perhaps
to widen the net of potential employees. Geographical distance,
particularly the division between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, is
a major factor in restricting the mobility of labour. Second, the
extreme scarcity of housing discourages frequent residential moves
and most people stay put, once they have an adequate place to live in.
Relative immobility is also promoted by the provision of company housing (dormitories, married flats, etc) in some cases: but this is
less common now than in the early phase of post-war industrialisation (the Shanghai pattern). Third, workers may be tied economically to
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