HK poverty rate explained

December 14, 2019

Secretary for Labour & Welfare Dr Law Chi-kwong said the number of people living below the poverty line in Hong Kong is lower once government intervention programmes are factored in.

 

Dr Law made the remarks in response to inquiries about the Hong Kong Poverty Situation Report 2018 after attending a radio programme today.

 

He said: "If we are going to look at government policies and its impact on poverty, we then have to look at the difference between the figures where there is no government intervention versus those figures where there is government intervention.

 

"If we take into account of government intervention in terms of its regular or irregular types of programmes, then the number of people below the poverty line would drop to around 910,000, which is substantially lower than what we call the 1.4 million before government intervention.

 

"Somehow the 1.4 million people (figure) is not real in a sense because it is only a hypothetical figure if the Government has not done anything at all. But, in fact, the Government has different types of programmes, so that is the figure (910,000) we should look at."

 

Regarding unemployment, Dr Law explained that it is very difficult to predict how much the unemployment rate will increase in the coming months.

 

"According to some of those analysts in the community, the number of the rate will range from something around 4% to 5%. We sincerely hope that it will not go up that high, but it is all up to the circumstances."

 

He added that he hopes the news that a trade agreement was reached between China and the United States will have a positive impact on Hong Kong’s economy.

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