Hong Kong’s first minimum wage came into effect yesterday amid rising public anger over sky-high rents and a growing income gap in the international financial hub.
The controversial pay floor, which divided business and labor groups for years, requires employers to pay staff at least HK$28 (US$3.60) an hour.
Critics have said the figure is still too low for many low-income people struggling to make ends meet. However, business groups have warned that the new law would lead to widespread job losses.
The territory is famous for its stunningly wealthy tycoons whose business empires span all sectors of Hong Kong’s economy and the world. However, it is also home to hundreds of thousands of workers who live on hourly wages sometimes as low as US$2 an hour.
The government has previously said more than 300,000 workers were likely to see their pay rise as a result of the new legislation.
On Saturday, hundreds of workers marched in the streets, claiming some employers had changed staff contracts to cut benefits, such as paid rest days, ahead of the new law, radio RTHK reported.
In an editorial, the Sunday Morning Post described the new wage floor as a “step in the right direction.”
“There’s no better time for the legislation to take effect,” the Post said. “Anxiety is high about the wealth gap and social equity. The government is under fire, accused of colluding with big business at the expense of the poor.”
“It’s these people, on the bottom rung of the social ladder, who will benefit most from the minimum wage,” the editorial said.
Hong Kong’s labor boss acknowledged that “teething problems are inevitable in launching a major -initiative of such magnitude.”
“We are entering uncharted waters in Hong Kong’s social development,” Hong Kong Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung (張建宗) said in a statement.
In January, Hong Kong lawmakers gave final approval for the new minimum wage, well below the level found elsewhere in the developed world, with union Legislator Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人) describing it at the time as “a victory with regrets.”
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
NEXT GENERATION: The new 3-nanometer chip has 28 percent more transistors and offers up to 80 percent faster language model performance than its predecessor MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Wednesday launched a new flagship smartphone chip, Dimensity 9400, made with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) enhanced 3-nanometer technology, aiming to bring more artificial intelligence (AI) applications to edge devices like phones. The Dimensity 9400 is the second smartphone chip using TSMC’s second-generation 3-nanometer technology, after Apple Inc’s A18 Pro chip for the new iPhone 16 series. The new mobile chip has 28 percent more transistors, offers up to 80 percent faster large language model performance and is up to 35 percent more power-efficient than its predecessor, Dimensity 9300, MediaTek said. Chinese smartphone makers Xiaomi Corp (小米),
RSS