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seek to justify any evidence of low wages in Hong Kong by reference to a family "pooling" system.
5. Internal opinion in Hong Kong may be unmoved by ideas of social justice : but the extent to which low wages or unemployment may threaten law and order should be kept under regular review both here and in Hong Kong. There may be some complacency in Hong Kong over inflation (para 19(h)) and its consequences for the low wage earner, and to me it is disturbing that the solution to "external forces" may be thought to lie in a flexibility which I interpret as encompassing a reduction in wage levels at a time of recession (para 19(h)). However, plans for an unemployment insurance scheme are best made in a time, as now, of comparatively full employment, and it is encouraging to note from your minute that the Governor may be inclined towards the idea of contributory unemployment and pension scheme. But our hopes were high when the Green Paper -"Help For Those Least Able To Help Themselves A Programme of Social Security Development" was published in November 1977. In the intervening three and a half years little seems to have been done in moving towards the very limited contributory scheme envisaged in that paper. The economists might have thoughts on future economic trends in Hong Kong, but time may not always be on our side and I believe that the Governor should be asked in good time before he leaves Hong Kong in the Spring of next year for his thoughts on what concrete steps should be taken to establish a reasonably comprehensive contributory social insurance scheme which would cover the major contingencies endemic in a highly industrial society such as Hong
Kong.
9 June 1981
HR G Hurst
Overseas Labour Adviser
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