Businesses should join fight against poverty

The recent revelation that one in five Hong Kong residents lives below the poverty line certainly does not befit the image of one of the most prosperous cosmopolitan cities in the world with one of the largest financial reserves in proportion to our population. But it is wrong to conclude that the special administrative region government hasn't done its duty to alleviate poverty - the previous administration increased social-welfare spending 71 percent. Only that there are other factors in play.

One of the most disconcerting findings in a study by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, the umbrella body of more than 460 community groups, was that food budgets for low-income families in private housing are particularly tight; this is forced upon them mainly by having to spend almost five times more on rent than publicly housed residents. The study showed that some 71,000 poor Hong Kong households do not have enough money to meet even their most basic food needs, and survive on less than HK$15, the minimum needed to purchase a meal that meets a person's basic nutritional needs. It doesn't take an Einstein to work out that the shortage of decent housing at reasonable rental, be it public or private accommodation, is preventing our poorest from coming out of their poverty trap.

Commission on Poverty Chairman Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said government efforts to alleviate poverty had been effective but it was not enough to reverse the statistical trend due to the general increase in income level, which affects the determination of poverty level, and the rapid aging of the population.

The government is doing its level best and proactively exploring new options to help further alleviate poverty. It behooves the private sector to ask itself what it could do in support. As the vast majority of the poorest are also the elderly, it would seem logical that the most direct approach would be to keep the elderly in the workforce as long as they are able so they could maintain a higher standard of living which would not be possible if they were retired. It is worth noting that in the more enlightened, and usually more prosperous as well, countries in Europe, their retirement age is being raised constantly, with some sectors eliminating it altogether, subject to medical approval of the subject's fitness to work, thereby killing multiple birds with one stone - that is increasing individual productivity and wealth, creating more revenue for government, less dependency on other family members, while mitigating the shortage of experienced labor.

This option is particularly suited for Hong Kong as our citizens have been topping the longevity sweepstakes for years. Relaxing our retirement rules could be a logical solution to some of our most pressing social and economic issues, and it would be a pity if we were to deprive ourselves of this logical solution because of certain sectors' protectionist influence.

(HK Edition 11/21/2017 page8)