Another nail in the coffin of Hong Kong’s exceptionalism: Its first minimum wage law passed.
Hong
Kong’s Legislative Council passed the Minimum Wage Bill on Saturday
after a debate that lasted 41 hours. The law is set to take effect
early next year.The bill gives the framework for a minimum wage
and does not stipulate actual wage. A committee appointed by the
government will recommend the minimum wage. The committee will give its
first recommendation by August to Chief Executive Donald Tsang.Trade
unions have proposed a minimum wage of HK$33 per hour. The minimum wage
will be reviewed every two years, instead of the annual review demanded
by unions.
But Hong Kong’s loss can be your gain. If you want a natural experiment on the effect of the minimum wage on employment and beyond, now’s your chance. Email Simon Lee of Hong Kong’s Lion Rock Institute for more details.
READER COMMENTS
John Thacker
Jul 20 2010 at 2:18pm
But surely all the ex-pats came to Hong Kong because they prefer life there to life at home. It shouldn’t have taken a marketing genius to win them over to the cause of Hong Kong liberty.
Scott Sumner
Jul 20 2010 at 3:17pm
If I’m not mistaken many of the more social democratic countries in Northern Europe lack any national minimum wage. They often have negotiated minimum wages for specific sectors, but many workers are in sectors that lack any minimum wage.
Is HK now more socialist than Sweden?
More evidence that neoliberalism is tied to liberal cultural values?
Tom VanAntwerp
Jul 20 2010 at 11:11pm
I’ve been living in HK for about 7 months now, and I’ve found it to hardly the be free market paradise that many libertarians think it is. This new law is hardly the end of laissez-faire in Hong Kong compared to the long-standing government involvement in land use and housing.
guthrie
Jul 21 2010 at 9:49am
But isn’t Bryan suggesting that this is an opportunity for us to actually measure, in real time, the differences in their economy based on this one factor?
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