The Hong Kong Council of Social Service

Transcription

1 The Hong Kong Council of Social Service Summary of Statistics on Poverty and Proposal on Low Income Supplement Statistical Analysis of Poverty 1.1 Same Poverty Rate in 2012 and 2011 Table1. Number of people in poverty and the poverty rate ( ) Population(,000) Poverty Rate 18.3% 17.6% 18.1% 17.4% 17.6% 17.7% 17.6% 17.7% 17.9% 17.1% 17.1% 1.2 Drop in the poverty rate of the age groups Table 2. Number of households in poverty ( ) Age Population(,000) Poverty Rate 16.5% 16.2% 16.9% 16.1% 16.0% 16.7% 17.0% 17.9% 19.3% 17.5% 17.7% Population(,000) Poverty Rate 11.9% 11.2% 11.2% 10.4% 10.7% 10.7% 10.3% 11.0% 11.1% 10.4% 10.3% Population(,000) Poverty Rate 17.6% 17.1% 17.3% 16.4% 16.1% 15.8% 15.7% 16.4% 16.0% 14.8% 14.7% 1.3 Over 20% children are living in low income families Table 3. Number of children (0-14) and poverty rate ( ) Age Population(,000) Poverty Rate 23.7% 21.6% 23.1% 22.0% 22.4% 22.4% 22.4% 22.3% 22.9% 22.3% 22.2% 1.4 Elderly poverty is most serious Table 4. Number of elderly ( 65) and poverty rate ( ) Age Population(,000) Poverty Rate 33.7% 33.4% 33.6% 34.0% 35.6% 35.1% 34.5% 33.9% 32.5% 32.7% 32.6% 1 The data contained in this report has excluded data from foreign domestic helpers Low-income households refer to those domestic households with monthly household income less than or equal to half of the median monthly domestic household income of the corresponding household size. The half of the median income of households by household size in 2012 is: 1-person: $3,750, 2-person: $8000, 3-person: $11,750, 4-person and above: $14,650. 1

2 1.5 Statistic on poverty by district Table 5. Poverty rate by district (2012) District Poverty Population Poverty Population District Rate (,000) Rate (,000) Yuen Long 21.4% 121 Kowloon City 14.5% 52 Kwun Tong 21.3% 131 Tsuen Wan 14.4% 42 Sham Shui Po 21.2% 78 Sha Tin 14.1% 86 Kwai Tsing 20.5% 101 Eastern 14.0% 78 Wong Tai Sin 20.2% 84 Tai Po 12.9% 37 Tuen Mun 19.2% 91 Southern 12.8% 33 North 19.0% 56 Wan Chai 12.6% 18 Yau Tsim Mong 18.0% 53 Sai Kung 12.0% 50 Islands 17.7% 24 Central and Western 11.9% Working Poor Households increased by 6000 in 2012 Table 5. Number of working poor households ( ) Population(,000) More than 80%of the working poor households consists of full-time working members Table 6. Number of working poor household by full time/ part time job (2012) Number of households (,000) Type of working poor households With at least 1 member working full time With only part time working member(s) Working poor households are required to nurture more children Table7. Child dependency ratio (2012) Ratio Working poor households 2 Overall HK households (The child dependency ratio in working poor families is 275, which means that every year-old adults are required to raise year-old children,

3 higher than the average of 160) 1.9 More than half of the working poor households are with 40%-50% of the median income Table 8. Working poor households by household income (2012) Income =40%-50% of the median household income Income <40% of the median household income % (54.8% (104,000 households) of the working poor households have monthly income equal to 40%-50% of the median monthly household income. This means that if we provide subsidy equals to 10% of the median monthly income, can help more than 50% of the working poor households out of poverty) 1.10 More than half of the low income people living in working poor households Table 9. People in poverty by employment status of household Living in households with at least 1 employed people Living in households with no employed people % (Working poverty is one of the core causes for poverty in Hong Kong. Out of 1.16 million low income people, 644,000 of them are living in working poor households. That is, amongst all low income people, over half (55.5%) are living in families with at least one employed member) 1.11 HKCSS s recommendations to tackle Hong Kong s poverty problem a. Setting Target for Poverty Alleviation b. Implementing low income supplement c. Adjusting the Statutory Minimum Wage annually d. Improving pension system for the elderly and income protection for the disabled e. Formulating district level poverty alleviation strategies f. Adopting tools to measure poverty in different angles 3

4 2. Low Income Supplement Proposal by HKCSS 2.1 Issues that the Proposal aims to tackle i. To give support to the working poor households ii. To Subsidize families with children iii. To help prevent poverty iv. As for the support to the elderly and the disabled - elderly should be supported via improvement in pension system while the disabled supported by improving the Disability Allowance and CSSA. However, before such improvement is implemented, they should be covered by the low income supplement 2.2 Proposal Details i. To support families with children under 16 or families with children aged who are attending schools ii. Low income subsidy is a work-related subsidy, therefore it is essential to make sure there is at least one family member working. We suggest setting the minimum working hours requirement at 140 hours or above each month (minimum working hours requirement for single parent households and disabled can be reduced to 70 hours per month). iii. Level per Month More than half of the working poor households earn 40-50% of the median income; therefore we suggest the subsidy level each month to be 10% of the median income of the related household size. Based on the General Household Survey 2012, the subsidy level of households with different sizes should be between $1,600 and $3,230. If a household earns less than or equal to 50% of the median household income, they can receive full subsidy. If a household earns more than 50% of the median income, every additional $1 earning will result in a reduction of $0.5 in the subsidy. Therefore, if a household earns more than 70% of the median income, the subsidy will become $0, meaning the family can no longer get the subsidy. The following table illustrates the mechanism. 4

5 Number of Members in Household Median Household Income Amount of Full (10% of Median Income of Households who can receive full subsidy (50% of the Median Household Income) Maximum Income of Household to receive (70% of the Median 2 16,000 1,600 8,000 11, ,500 2,350 11,750 16, ,900 2,890 14,450 20, ,825 2,980 14,913 20,873 6 people or above 32,300 3,230 16,150 22,610 iv. Asset Test It is suggested not to set any asset test. But the income generated from assets should be counted as household income. v. Number of Beneficiaries and the Financial Implication The estimated number of benefitting households of the above proposal is 190,000, and the number of beneficiaries is around 740,000. There are about 90,000 families (around 340,000 beneficiaries) who are eligible for the maximum subsidy level. The total subsidy expenditure per year will be $4.8 billion (2013 price level). After implementing this proposal, it is estimated that the poverty population can be reduced by 190,000, and child poverty population reduced by 60,000. The overall poverty rate will fall from 17.1% to 14.3%, and child poverty rate will reduce from 22.2% to 15.2%. vi. Housing Burden Because of the apparent difference in the rent of public housing and private housing, it is suggested to take into account the housing burden of beneficiaries when calculating the low income supplement. For example, additional subsidy can be given to people renting private housings. 2.3 Other considerations If, considering affordability, the government cannot adopt the above scheme for the time being, we suggest the following adjustment in the proposal. Interim Proposal To reduce the subsidy level per month by half 5

6 We suggest the subsidy level to reduce to 5% of the median household income, i.e. $800 - $1,615 (according to household size). If a household earns less than or equal to 50% of the median household income, one can receive the full subsidy. For households with over 50% median household income, every additional $1 of earning will result in a reduction of $0.5 in the subsidy. Therefore, if a household earns above 60% median income, the subsidy will become 0, meaning the family can no longer get the subsidy. The estimated number of benefitting family is 150,000, and beneficiaries 570,000. The number of families receiving total subsidy will be 90,000 (340,000 beneficiaries). The total subsidy expenditure per year will be $2 billion, according to the 2013 price level. After implementing this proposal, it is estimated that the low income population can be reduced by 90,000, and child poverty population reduced by 30,000. The overall poverty rate will fall from 17.1% to 15.7%, and child poverty rate will reduce from 22.2% to 18.7%. Number of Members in Household Amount of Full (5% of Median Income of Households who can receive full subsidy (50% of the Median Household Income) Maximum Income of Household to receive (60% of the Median ,000 9, ,175 11,750 14, ,445 14,450 17, ,490 14,913 17,893 6 people or above 1,615 16,150 19,380 August 22,