Survival on a junk economy

Anyone with half or less than half of the median monthly household income of HK$3,500 is deemed to be poor.

Statistics from Oxfam Hong Kong are equally disturbing. The NGO notes with regret that although Hong Kong people are industrious, they are still unable to afford a decent standard of living for themselves after working hard all their lives.

According to Oxfam, the number of people living in poor households shot up to more than 660,000 - the highest ever - by the second quarter of 2010.

Trucks loaded with waste materials queue up outside a Cha Kwo Ling collection center - one of the largest in Hong Kong - where they'll be processed and sent to recycling plants on the mainland. [Photo/China Daily]

Oxfam blamed the government for taking "inadequate and ineffective" measures to fight the problem. "This is unacceptable," the group warns.

Oxfam suggests that all-round policies must be implemented to help people enter the labor market, introduce comprehensive child-support steps and, above all, raise the minimum wage to take into account a worker's need to support his family.

But, it remains a formidable mountain to climb, economics experts agree.

"Hong Kong is facing an immensely serious aging problem. Can the Hong Kong government carry such an astronomical financial burden when the crunch comes?" asks Grace Ling, who was formerly attached to the Central Policy Unit - the government's thinktank on political, economic and social problems.

In her view, Hong Kong is fortunate in that the poverty problem is being cushioned, to a certain extent, by public housing for some 30 percent of the population, the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance scheme as well as free medical services.

"You have to take all these into account when assessing the poverty gap. You don't find these benefits in many other countries," explains Ling, who's now a senior research consultant with the Hong Kong Institute for Public Administration.

However, she agrees that poverty among the elderly is a very big problem for the city. "They grew up poor, many being single with no children to depend on in their twilight years."

Ling reckons the government must come up with an urgent and effective solution.

"First, let's get the Old Age Living Allowance off the ground. Let them get the money first and think of other plans to help them later," she says.

"I do support an assets declaration on the part of recipients, taking into consideration there would be about three million elderly people in Hong Kong in 20 years' time. The assets cap, however, should be raised to HK$400,000, she says, because with HK$186,000, it could last an elderly person, perhaps as little as three or four years. What will he do after that?"