FCO_49_622_PLANNING_PAPER_ON_HONG_KONG_1976 — Page 109

PSEGRET

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financial security at a later date. There is also the subsidiary difficulty of the effect on costs that the employers' contributions might have. The difficulties of gaining acceptance for such a scheme seem too great, and the benefits it could confer before the mid 80s too small in comparison to those that could be made

available under the existing scheme to justify its introduction. The most useful social aspect of the Singapore Provident Fund has

been the facilities it provides for home purchase; but a scheme for the provision of such facilities for the lower income groups in Hong Kong is at present being formulated.

11. In the field of labour standards the Colonial Government fully

accepts the need for improvements though it argues the importance of proceeding gradually, both because of the mass of legislation involved and in order to allow industry to adjust without losing

its competitive edge. In this context, a recent survey by the Hong Kong Labour Department supports the view that Hong Kong workers enjoy the highest disposable incomes in Asia after Japan, though the absence of accurate and detailed comparative statistics suggests that this should be regarded as only a tentative conclusion. Accepting this, however, there are still grounds for criticism even by comparison with some of Hong Kong's Asian competitors:

(a) the absence of statutory minimum wages for low-paid occupations. (This was considered by the Hong Kong Government in the face of the drop in real wages during 1974 but rejected on a number of grounds, principally that it would be difficult to police and of little practical advantage to workers);

(b) the absence of limitations on the hours of work of males or of statutory provision for overtime rates;

(c) poor provision for statutory holidays with pay: 6 being increased next year to 10 as compared with, say, 11 in Singapore, 13 in Taiwan and 12 in Indonesia. There is no provision for paid vacation leave, which exists in all the countries mentioned here although it is hoped to introduce a week's paid leave in 1978;

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