Pandemic takes at least one job away from nearly 70 per cent of Hong Kong poor families, nearly all in dire need of financial help, poll finds
- Society for Community Organisation interviews 519 family heads of poor households to measure impact of city’s coronavirus outbreaks
- Sixty-seven per cent of respondents report at least one family member out of work because of Covid-19 pandemic
The Society for Community Organisation (SoCO) last week interviewed the family heads of 519 poor households to determine how badly they had been affected by the pandemic, and what they wanted the next chief executive to do to help them.
Of the respondents, 67 per cent said that at least one family member had lost their job and 74.3 per cent said their household income had shrunk over the past two years.
About 71 per cent of respondents reported they were living in inadequate housing, such as tiny subdivided cubicles or so-called caged homes. Two interviewees said they were homeless.
Overall, the median household income of the respondents was HK$10,000 (US$1,283), with 10.4 per cent saying they had no source of income at all and were living off savings or borrowed money.
All interviewees were living below the official poverty line, which is defined by total earnings of HK$20,800 for a four-member family, or HK$4,400 for a one-person household.
