TNAG-1064-FCO40-1314-Labour-relations-in-Hong-Kong-Professor-H-A-F-Turner-s-stud-1981 — Page 3

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BACKGROUND NOTE

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THE TURNER STUDY: A CONTRIBUTARY UNEMPLOYMENT AND PENSION SCHEME FOR HONG KONG

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Professor Turner, in his summary report, Labour Organisation, the Labour Market and Labour Relations in Hong Kong(March 1980), recommended the introduction of a contributary unemployment and pension scheme, the pension element of which would be 'accumulatable as a deposit on housing purchase'. This he tied in with recommendations for a general minimum wage and a limited child benefit scheme. The latter he saw combining with an unemployment and pension scheme so as to cut costs.

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In his survey on workers' aspirations, Turner found Hong Kong workers, like their counterparts in the West, apt to rate job security and social protection ahead of mere cash gains. His sample expressed a general willingness to contribute financially to these ends, and to conclude from this that an unemployment and pension scheme would enjoy 'exceptional public support'.

3. At the time the Turner study was commissioned, in 1976, there was much discussion in the FCO about the introduction of social security provisions in Hong Kong, at least on a par with the best among the Territory's Asian neighbours. A planning paper circulated in March 1976 acknowledged the need for 'a social security system providing an essential safety net for the old, the sick, widows and orphans and the unemployed'. A follow-up paper in 1978-79 envisaged the phased introduction of a comprehensive social security scheme 'encompassing the whole range of benefits for those in need, including further provision for disability and old age, sickness and unemployment'.

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In 1977 there was reason to suppose that the Hong Kong Government was moving towards such a scheme. The November 1977 Green Paper, Help for Those Worst Able to Help Themselves - A Programme of Social Security Development, includes unemployment and retirement as contingencies relevant to the development of social security,

and identifies them as 'significant social risks' that are still largely uncovered. These ideas have however remained in the formulative stage.

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