Britain’s minimum wage experience: lessons for Hong Kong

According to the United Nations' 2009 Human Development Report, Hong Kong has scored the highest Gini Index of 43.4 among the world's 38 "very high human development" economies. Hong Kong's income inequality is, to date, the most serious among such economies. Shortly after the UN finding was released, our Provisional Minimum Wage Commission which has been studying the issue of a minimum wage for Hong Kong indicated that the British model might be more suitable than others for Hong Kong.

The reference to the British model might be purely incidental, but it might also be intended by the Commission as the British national minimum wage legislation was also introduced in a context of rising income inequality and poverty. The introduction of the British national minimum wage was sometimes paraded as evidence of the former Blair government's commitment to reversing glaring inequity.

Britain's Low Pay Commission (hereafter the Commission) adopted a prudent approach on the minimum wage issue. The initial minimum wage rate it decided on in 1999 was about 46% of the median wage rate. Britain's prudent approach and initial minimum wage rate have been very much the foci of local media reporting. Citing OECD experience, the local business sector has also pointed to 40% of median wage or about HK$5,000 as an appropriate benchmark for setting Hong Kong's minimum wage level.

Given severe income inequality in Hong Kong, it would be useful to examine the thoughts that had informed the Commission in its prudent approach as well as to see how Britain's initial minimum wage rate and the minimum-wage-to-median-wage ratio can be understood.

In its first report, the Commission listed rising inequality, a substantial degree of in-work poverty, and gross exploitation as its top concerns. It stated explicitly that the minimum wage had to make a difference for low-pay workers and remove gross exploitation. On this, the Commission wrote in its report: "The National Minimum Wage must protect the most vulnerable from exploitation and be a critical factor in a package of measures to address social exclusion and make work pay."

Like any other country with a minimum wage, however, Britain was concerned about the impact of the minimum wage on the country's economic competitiveness. The Commission agreed that the minimum wage must support a competitive economy. Notwithstanding, it took the minimum wage and economic competitiveness to be complementary rather than conflicting. It considered economic competitiveness and growth to be dependent on a range of factors other than costs of labor. Competitiveness could be achieved through innovation, good management, well-targeted capital investment, and the development of work skills. If firms competed simply on the basis of low pay, this "can lead to a damaging downward spiral of low wages and poor standards, which is detrimental to both businesses and workers." Firms pursuing a high productivity strategy would also be unfairly undermined by competitors relying on low-wage employment.

Moreover, the Commission was aware that social welfare could make it possible for some firms to depress wages and thereby transfer operational costs to taxpayers. Such firms would know that despite their wages being below subsistence level, unless workers were left to starve, the government would eventually step in to provide the necessary supplement. The consequences would be taxpayers being called upon to subsidize wage exploitation and efficient firms having to compete unfairly with inefficient ones. To the Commission, therefore, the minimum wage in addition to being a labor policy had also to be an economic policy serving the following functions: it "should protect reputable firms from being undercut by competitors solely on the basis of depressed wages. It should also protect the taxpayer from subsidising wage exploitation. It has the potential to encourage competitiveness based on a better skilled workforce and better quality products and services."

It was with such considerations that the Commission decided on a prudent approach to make time for industrial adjustment and not to put firms trying to upgrade productivity and jobs at unbearable risk. With a commitment to making a difference for low-pay workers, the prudent approach was "to find the balance between improving low pay and avoiding damage to efficient businesses and to employment opportunities". The role of the minimum wage was to encourage businesses to improve efficiency, performance and investment in staff, as well as create opportunities for the unemployed to take up work and for those in work to develop their skills. The prudent approach was to make time for all these to happen.

As regards the appropriate starting wage, our opinion is that it is important not to read Britain's rate or other countries' rates mechanically and out of context. The Low Pay Commission opined in its report that comparing minimum rates across countries was not straightforward. Regarding the minimum-wage-to-median-wage ratio, the Commission pointed out that it was "an imperfect comparative measure as differences in earnings distributions mean that the same ratio may have a different effect on the labour market in different countries." What this cautions against is looking at a minimum wage level outside of the context of a country's structure of income distribution.

Hong Kong's Gini index is 43.4 while Britain's is 36.0. This means that Hong Kong's income distribution is significantly more unequal than Britain's. In other words, as Britain's income distribution is less unequal, its median wage is located at a higher level in its structure of income distribution. This in turn means that the median wage is relatively closer to the top wage compared to the median wage in an income distribution that is more unequal. An income that is 46% of the median wage in a country with a more equal income distribution is higher than the same income in a country with a less equal income distribution.

To understand this point, we can compare Britain's initial minimum wage level in 1999 in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) in sterling (￡) with 11 other countries in the European Union and OECD having a national minimum wage. The minimum wage rates of these 12 countries as purchasing power parity in 1999, in descending order, were: Australia (￡4.83), Netherlands (￡4.56), Belgium (￡4.55), France (￡4.10), Canada (￡3.74), Britain (￡3.60), USA (￡3.38), New Zealand (￡3.15), Japan (￡2.57), Spain (￡2.43), Greek (￡2.34) and Portugal (￡1.93). It can be seen that Britain's minimum rate was in fact among the top half of the rates of the 12 countries. It cannot be considered as low.

Apart from purchasing power parity, one may also look at Britain's minimum wage level from another angle. In 2008, Britain's minimum wage level was about 23% of the median earning of the country's top 10% in the earnings distribution. In this light, if we express the suggested HK$ 5,000 minimum wage rate as a proportion of the median earning of the top 10% in Hong Kong's earnings distribution (which was about $45,000 in 2006), the local ratio turns out to be only about 11%. From this angle, one may argue that compared to Britain, a minimum rate of $5,000 for Hong Kong will be indeed too low.

Although Britain's minimum wage level may not be of direct relevance to Hong Kong because of differing contexts, the Low Pay Commission's deliberations on the relationship between minimum wages and economic competitiveness, its analysis of the relationship between income inequality and wage exploitation, as well as its concerns about taxpayers possibly made to subsidize wage exploitation should broaden the local discourse on minimum wages. Exclusive emphases on the possible negative impact of a minimum wage on economic competitiveness and mechanical interpretations of the wage level itself are not conducive to helping Hong Kong find a balanced albeit prudent approach to this important issue.

George Cautherley
Vice-Chairman, Hong Kong Democratic Foundation

An abridged version of this article was published in SCMP on 14 January 2010.

再談英國最低工資對港啟示

聯合國2009年人類發展報告指出，香港的堅尼系數為43.4，在38個 "人類高度發展" 的經濟體系中排名最高。換句話說，雖然香港可被列為其中一個 "人類高度發展" 的地區，但香港的貧富懸殊卻是最嚴重的。

就在此報告公佈後不久，香港的臨時最低工資委員會在一傳媒簡佈會中表示，英國的最低工資制度較適合香港。隨後，本地傳媒也有廣泛報導英國「低薪委員會」(Low Pay Commission)處理最低工資事宜所持的審慎態度及其在1999年所定的初期最低工資水平。

無獨有偶，英國的最低工資立法也是在收入不平等和貧窮不斷惡化的背景下展開。事實上，英國全國性最低工資的實施就間或被視為前貝理雅政府處理收入不平等問題的一項德政。

由於香港極嚴重的貧富懸殊，也由於香港有可能採納英國的最低工資制度，因此我們認為值得進一步探討: 1) 英國「低薪委員會」(下稱委員會) 以審慎態度處理最低工資事宜背後所持的考慮；2) 如何解讀英國最初期的最低工資水平。

委員會在其第一份報告中指出，收入不平等的惡化、大量的在職負窮、赤裸的剝削 (gross exploitation) 為其最終的關注。委員會發現在英國，不少人即使辛勤地工作，但也只能以非常低的收入為生，並且缺乏改善生活的機會。事實上，不少人陷入低薪工作與失業的循環之中，或無法跳出低薪的行業。委員會明確地指出，最低工資必需能為低薪工人帶來實質的改變及消除赤裸的剝削。委員會在其報告中有這樣的?述：「全國性最低工資必須保障社會上弱勢社?不受剝削，同時也是解決社會排斥及提倡"工有其酬"(make work pay)一系列措施的一個重要環節。」

當然，並且毫不例外，英國也考慮到最低工資對經濟競爭力的影響。委員會認同最低工資必需有助維持一個有競爭力的經濟。但值得注意的是，委員會不單沒有把最低工資和競爭力視為相互排斥，相反，兩者更是互相補足。委員會認為競爭力與經濟增長並不只是取決於勞工價格。競爭力的提升可透過創新，良好的管理，有效的生產工具投資，勞工技術的改善等等的方法去達致。假如企業只以低薪來競爭，這只會引致一破壞性的惡性循環，令至薪金及生產質素不斷下降，最終做成一個勞資雙方都受損的雙輸局面。另一方面，對於以提高生產力來競爭的企業而言，低薪企業則對它們構成不公平的競爭。

此外，委員會也察覺到社會福利可使得企業有機會壓低工資，從而將經營成本轉嫁給納稅人身上。這是因為企業知道，即使它們所支付的工資不足以使工人糊口，除非政府對飢餓貧窮採取漠視的態度，政府最終必會介入給與足夠的經濟補助。最終的結果是納稅人補貼工資剝削及補貼低生產力企業向高生產力企業進行不公平的競爭。

因此，對委員會而言，最低工資不單只是一勞工政策，同時地是一經濟政策，起?以下的功能：最低工資應保障有信譽的高生產力企業不受競爭者只以壓低工資來競爭的威脅。最低工資也應保障納稅人無需補貼工資剝削。此外，最低工資有可能推動企業以勞工及產品質素為競爭的基礎。

以上這些都是委員會採納「審慎態度」背後的一連串考慮。委員會希望給與企業足夠的時間進行調整；另外也希望最低工資不會令那些準備提升競爭力的企業承受太大倒閉的風險和引致職位的流失。以工人實質的改善為大前提，採納「審慎態度」的目的是希望在改善薪酬、避免令有競爭力的企業受到傷害、及保持就業機會這三者中取得一適當的平衡。最低工資的角色是鼓勵企業提升雇員及其生產的生產力，和創造提升技能的機會給與待業或在職的員工。採納「審慎態度」的目的就是要給與足夠的時間讓這些成為可能。

至於英國初期的最低工資水平，即工資中位數的46%，不少報導評論都以此為訂定香港最低工資水平的參考。由於香港的工資中位數約為HK$10,500，因此有提議認為香港的最低工資可訂為約HK$5,000。

就?這提議，我們認為不能太機械地和太抽空地詮釋英國的數字。英國的「低薪委員會」在其報告表示，比較各國的最低工資水平並不容易。就著「最低工資佔工資中位數的比率」這數據而言，委員會指出這比率是一個並不完善的比較指標。由於各國的收入分配(income distribution)並不盡相同，因此即使兩國的最低工資都佔工資中位數的相同比率，這兩國的最低工資對其各自勞動市場的影響都會不盡相同。因此我們不能抽離某國的收入分配結構而詮釋該國的的最低工資水平。

香港的堅尼系數為43.4，而英國的則為36.0。這意指，香港的收入分配遠比英國的收入分配不平等。由於英國的收入分配較平等，因此工資中位數比較接近收入分佈中的高水平。相反，由於香港的收入分配非常不平等，因此香港的工資中位數則較接近收入分佈中的低水平。從以上比較得知，在英國佔工資中位數46%的收入，會遠較香港同一比率的收入為高！

再進一步闡釋以上的分析，我們可從另一角度再檢視英國初期的最低工資水平。下表以英鎊為單位的購買力平價(purchasing power parity, PPP) 比較英國及11個實施最低工資的歐盟及OECD國家在1999年的最低工資水平。從圖表得知，英國的最低工資水平位於12個國家的中間。英國初期的最低工資水平其實並不十分低。

除購買力平價外，我們再可從另一角度解讀英國的最低工資水平。在2008年，英國的最低工資大約佔該國最高收入的10%人口的工資中位數的23%。在香港，假如真的將最低工資訂為$5,000，這工資水平則只佔最高收入的10%人口的工資中位數(在2006年約為$45,000)的11%。從這個角度看，與英國相比，$5,000的最低工資顯然偏低！

雖然英國的最低工資水平未必能直接引用於香港，但我們相信英國「低薪委員會」對最低工資的各種分析，例如最低工資與經濟競爭力的關係、社會福利可能被用作補貼工資剝削等，及其對不平等及剝削的關注，應能深化香港最低工資的討論。過份強調最低工資對經濟競爭力的負面影響和機械地詮釋外國的最低工資水平並不能為香港尋找一個「平衡」及「審慎」的最低工資水平。

高德禮
香港民主促進會副主席

刪節文章刋登於2010年1月7日明報

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