TNAG-0647-FCO40-795-Study-of-labour-relations-in-Hong-Kong-by-Professor-H-A-Turn-1977 — Page 274

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7. Segmentation of the labour market :

It must be clear by now that labour is far from homogeneous, despite the low skill requirements of HK industry. Age and sex are fundamen tal variables stratifying the labour force and hence segmenting the labour market. It was common up to 1974 to speak of full employment and labour scarcity in Hil, a tendency which has revived now that employment has returned to pre-1974 levels. But it is obvicus that, while there may be shortages of certain kinds of labour in some industries, it is possible for considerable surpluses to exist elsewhere. The employ- ability of youths lacking secondory education is much lower than that of their female equivalents, for example. Older people cannot get jobs demanding high-speed, precision work. The family system and the non-wage sector may conceal unemployment, containing as they do men and women who who no longer seek wage employment because there are too many others like them in the same position (thereby driving wages down to levels unacceptable to all but the most desperate). Moreover, as long as labour force participation rates are dynamic (children stay at school longer, women move in and out of domestic unpaid employment, etc.), it is nonsense to talk of 'full employment', as do England and Rear. The articulation of the wage labour market with other sectors employing labour needs further study.

The interesting questions, which we cannot begin to answer here, are : What are the long-term rigidities preventing PK's labour force from converting surpluses in stagnant sectors into an available supply for booming industries? Why do manufacturing employers persist in hiring young girls, even when there are pools of labour ready to be tapped elsewhere? Snippets of answers are contained in the notes. At this stage it is sufficient to point out that the myth of labour market freedom is a convenient rationalisation of social neglect for those who do not wish to perceive the unfreedom, inequality and exploitation which mark the lives of many of HK's workers. It is for this reason that the present exposition (perhaps to the point of distortion) has stressed factors restricting mobility in the labour force.

8. The part played by combinations of workesin regulating the labour market :

Unions rarely, if ever, bargain with employers directly over wages or conditions of employment (except in government, see below). They do not effectively restrict entry into the various trades. This leaves employers free to dictate wage levels in industries which are not marked by a chronic shortage of labour (see notes at various places). But workers are not entirely without power. They are often active when threatened by collective redundancy and appear to be capable of sustaining downward rigidities of wage rates during recessions. But, for the most part, individuals must bargain with employers on a one-to-one basis they.can withdraw their labour through quitting for another job; they can lobby for the redress of personal grievances (sometimes through the unions or joint consultative committees); they can press for higher wages if the market conditions are right. Nevertheless we should ask why the development of collective bargaining has failed to get off the ground in lik, with the notable exception of government.