Hong Kong Minimum Wage Commission refuses to rule out freeze due to economic threat from protests and US-China trade war
- Chairwoman Priscilla Wong says government-appointed body can’t guarantee increase and dismisses calls for annual review
- Ongoing anti-government demonstrations and trade tensions between Washington and Beijing cited as causes of economic uncertainty
The government-appointed Minimum Wage Commission has refused to rule out the possibility of freezing it in future, citing the economic risk from the ongoing anti-government protests and the US-China trade war.
Priscilla Wong Pui-sze, the chairwoman of the commission, said on Tuesday that any future adjustments would have to be based on “objective data and figures”.
She also refused to commit to reviewing it on an annual basis, rather than the current two years, saying the commission was still assessing the impact of the latest increase in the minimum wage, which rose from HK$34.50 to HK$37.50 on May 1.
Next year the commission is due to submit suggestions to the government on what the new minimum wage level should be in 2021.
But commission representatives from both the labour and business sectors said that although no official data was available, the impact from the citywide protests that started in June was already being felt, with workers in the tourism and hotel industries being placed on unpaid leave.
