2
setting up factories in China by local manufacturers, to see their long-term impact on our economy;
3
(d) to assess whether expanding the civil service in
сер.
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5
times of labour shortage will worsen the problem and
push up inflation due to increases in wages.
6
NP 7 (sir, several tens of thousands of foreign domestic
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or
helpers now working in Hong Kong has enabled more
helpo local women to join the work force. This works to
reduce the problem of shortage of labour. But in the past two years, the Government drastically increased the wages for foreign domestic helpers, far higher
than the inflation rates or salary increases for our
own people. This puzzles me. In a free economy, wage increases should depend on supply and demand factors. For imported goods for labour, we should also choose the cheap and reliable ones as a matter of economic principle.
If the Government believes that foreign domestic helpers
may affect the job prospects of their local counterparts,
20 which is unfounded, it can ban or restrict their entry
into Hong Kong. It should not arbitrarily increase their wages, thus adding to the burden of local people. So this actually runs counter to the interests of the
104 public.
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2 2 2 2 2 2
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Jeopardise
Added to the to afford
present monthly
salary of $2,300, we have the fees for employing her,
passage
air tickets, food and lodging, visa fees and insurance
premium. The total may have exceeded the income of an
28 average local woman; consequently, some families cannot
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afford the chain reaction which worsened the tight
labour market.
732
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All these problems require the Government's detailed
review.
Secondly, the change of status of medical and nursing
staff in Government hospitals and staff welfare allow-
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