International Baccalaureate Extended Essay

International Baccalaureate Extended Essay Economics -‐ To what extent does the establishment of the minimum wage legislation affect the employees of the small fast-‐food restaurants in Hong Kong?

Siu Tsz Him

Word Count: 3999

2 International Baccalaureate Extended Essay

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Abstract

The research question of this research question is: To what extent does the

establishment of the minimum wage law affect the employees of the small fast-‐

food restaurants in Hong Kong? This essay attempts to investigate on the effects

of the Statutory Minimum Wage Law (SMW) has been in effect since 1st May

2011. In particular, it investigates the effects brought to the workers of small-‐

medium restaurants in Hong Kong and aim to investigate the problem through

three aspects: Job security, Physique and Stamina and ability of wages to follow

inflation. This essay attempts to look at these three aspects and determine

whether the Statutory Minimum Wage does more good than harm to the

workers.

The investigation was carried out by distributing surveys with 16 questions to

50 participants from 5 restaurants, asking about their change in lifestyles and

living standards after the establishments of the SMW and the abovementioned

aspects, accompanied with interviews with the workers. After the research is

carried out it is used for analysis and is backed up through referencing data with

other secondary sources from, but not limited to, the statistics from the Census

and Statistics Department of Hong Kong and Internet journals from the Internet.

This investigation suggests that the establishment of the SMW creates better job

security for the workers in general, does not cause a decrease in physique or

stamina, and has wages that surpass the rate of inflation. This essay strongly

believes that for the workers who are working in the small fast-‐food restaurants,

the pros outweigh the cons under the establishment of the Statutory Minimum

Wage.

Word Count: 265

International Baccalaureate Extended Essay 3

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Table of Content

Abstract 2

Introduction 4

Investigation Aim 5

Hypothesis 6

Method 6

Does the level of unemployment increase after the SMW? 7

Does the SMW increase the real wages of the workers? 14

Does the SMW cause heavier workload for the workers? 20

Limitations of Investigation 24

Conclusion 26

References 27

Appendix 29


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Introduction

This essay attempts to investigate the effects that are brought to Hong Kong

under the establishment of the statutory minimum wage (SMW) that came to

effect on 1 May 2011. The research question of this essay is “To what extent does

the establishment of the Minimum Wage legislation affect the workers of the small-‐

medium restaurants in Hong Kong?”

This topic is particularly significant as Hong Kong is famous for its exquisite

cuisine, and therefore knowing how the establishment of the minimum wage

legislation affects the employees of such small fast food restaurants is very

important to understanding how we can improve our catering industry and

improve more important aspects such as tourism or growth in Hong Kong.

Another reason for why it is important to investigate on such a problem is

because there is much heated yet unsupported debate on whether the

implementation of such a policy truly protects the low-‐income workers.

As the Legislative Council member Paul Tse has pointed out, ‘‘the city’s (Hong

Kong) success has been built on freedom of trade.” This investigation

particularly chooses to investigate the small fast-‐food restaurants in Hong Kong

for the main reason being that the small fast-‐food restaurants are usually the

ones that are most affected under any policy change as the workers have less

protection due to the fewer or even no labor rigidities, and therefore

investigating purely on such a type of restaurants allows insights to how the

establishment of such a policy will affect the free market structure of Hong Kong.

Workers who work in restaurants who get a pay rise due to the minimum wage

accounts for 19.8% of the whole 314,000 workers that get a pay rise due to the

law1, and investigating such a population is important to know how the

minimum wage affects such workers.

1 Singapore Armchair Critic. HONG KONG’S MINIMUM WAGE: WHAT IMPACT ON JOBS AND PAY? 7 June 2012. 25 Aug 2012


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Investigation Aim

To investigate on how the minimum wage legislation affects the employees, this

essay will attempt to ask three questions on three important aspects that might

be affected by the SMW:

1. Does the level of unemployment increase after the SMW?

To our common knowledge, a rise in wages usually causes a rise in

unemployment. This essay will investigate the extent that the SMW has

affected the job security.

2. Does the SMW increase the real wages of the workers?

Although there should be an increase in the net income of the workers

after the SMW, it does not necessarily mean that the real income of the

workers has increased. This essay investigates whether the real wages

have increased or not.

3. Does the SMW cause healthier workload for the workers and lead to

lower productivity?

With the assumption that “higher wages causes employers cut employers

and make the rest work more”, it is important to know to what extent

does that apply to the food and beverages industry of Hong Kong. This is

an important field of investigation, as workload can be directly tied with

health of an individual and the productivity of the industry as a whole.


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Hypotheses

With the investigation aim and assumptions in mind, three hypotheses are

devised for the development of the essay:

Hypothesis 1: Due to a binding price floor, the establishment of the SMW will

lead to a surplus of labor, which leads to increased unemployment and

decreased job security.

Hypothesis 2: The establishment of the SMW will increase wages and match up

against the inflation for the jobs that were previously under $28.

Hypothesis 3: The physique and stamina will decrease as a result of extra

working hours.

Method

Based on these three hypotheses, a questionnaire was devised for the workers in

such small restaurants to investigate on how the SMW affects the employees in

these aspects.

50 questionnaires were distributed to 5 restaurants with 9-‐11 people in each

restaurant were interviewed. The sample was chosen to because these

restaurants are geographically dispersed throughout Hong Kong and can be said

as representative of the Hong Kong food and beverages industry. The sizes of the

restaurants are relatively small, which is coherent with the scope of this

discussion to the small-‐medium restaurants in Hong Kong.

The questionnaires asked 16 questions related to the investigation issues listed

above. Due to the qualitative nature of the aspect regarding health, there are also

interviews that asked questions concerning their health. This investigation will

also reference journals, Internet columns and reports from the census and

statistics department.


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Does the level of unemployment increase after the SMW?

Overview

The establishment of the SMW at $28, in economical terms, is a price floor for the

labor market. A price floor is a type of price control that does not let the price of

a particular good fall below a certain point. For the labor market, particularly for

the lower-‐pay occupations such as the dishwashers, this is the effect of the SMW,

serving as a binding price floor. For example, it is shown through our research

that the average wage of a dishwasher resides at $25, shown below:

With 28 dollars as the minimum wage, the supply of labor, or otherwise the

amount of people who are willing to work, increases from Q1 to Qs1. However,

the demands for labor, which are the employers, are unwilling to hire as many

people as before, and the labor force employed will shrink from Q1 to Qd1. This

creates a surplus of labor from Qd1 to Qs1, which can be alternatively said as

unemployment. However the findings do not support this assumption.


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Findings

Judging from the questionnaire, the establishment of the SMW has not affected

the job security.

Spreading across all age groups and different occupations, a majority answered

question 13 to state that the job competition between peers for the catering

industry has not increased, and some even answered this question of having

decreased competition, shown next page:

Among all the services, the cleaning services reports to have 25% of people

answering, “decreased job competition” in job rivalry, and 33% of the people in

the industry answering “more secure” about their jobs. It appears that the job

security in the cleaning industry has been affected the least, if not positively.

Furthermore, for question 14, where the question asks if they know of anybody

were fired due to the SMW, no people reported to have known anybody in the

industry to be fired after the establishment of the SMW. This research clearly

shows that the job security and the jobs have not been altered much after the

establishment of the SMW.

6% 20%

74%

Q13: Has the job competition changed after the establishment of the minimum wage law?

More Competition Less Competition No Change


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Secondary research supports the primary findings. The unemployment rate of

Hong Kong one year before and after the establishment is tabulated on a graph

from the data provided by the data from the statistics and census department2,

shown below:

2 Trading Economics. Hong Kong Unemployment Rate. 1 May 2011. Web. 25 Aug 2012

100%

0% 0% 0%

Q14: Do you know anybody who has been @ired after the establishment of the

minimum wage law? If yes, how many?

None 1-‐2 people 3-‐4 people 5 people or above

3.0%

3.3%

3.5%

3.8%

4.0%

4.3%

4.5%

4.8%

5.0%

Jan-‐10 May-‐10 Aug-‐10 Nov-‐10 Feb-‐11 Jun-‐11 Sep-‐11 Dec-‐11 Apr-‐12 Jul-‐12

Unemployment Rate

Month

Unemployment Rates of HK, May 2011-‐ May 2013

Before SMW

After SMW


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As we can see from the chart, not only does the unemployment not rise after the

SMW, but also there are signs that support the fact that the unemployment rates

have fallen after the SMW.

Further research also shows that both the number of people engaged in the food

and beverages services industry and the job vacancies in the industry have been

increasing ever since the establishment of the SMW3, shown in the charts below:

3 HKSAR. Census and Statistics Department. Quarterly Report of Employment and Vacancies Statistics. Census and Statistics Department, 1 Sept. 2012. Web. 20 Jan. 2013.

231000

232000

233000

234000

235000

236000

237000

Jul-‐11 Sep-‐11 Nov-‐11 Dec-‐11 Feb-‐12 Apr-‐12 May-‐12 Jul-‐12 Aug-‐12 Oct-‐12

No. of People

Date

Number of persons engaged in the food and beverages industry, Sep 2011 -‐ Sep 2012

6000

7000

8000

9000

10000

11000

12000

13000

Jul-‐11 Sep-‐11 Nov-‐11 Dec-‐11 Feb-‐12 Apr-‐12 May-‐12 Jul-‐12 Aug-‐12 Oct-‐12

No. of Vacancies

Date

Number of Vacancies in the food and bevarages industry, Sep 2011-‐ Sep 2012


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From these findings, it seems like that the SMW has not increased

unemployment at all. From secondary research shown above, unemployment

rates might have even decreased. While it seems illogical, the reasons of why the

SMW does not create unemployment is shown below.

Analysis-‐ why does the unemployment not rise after the SMW?

The reasons why the minimum wage has not induced an increase in

unemployment are listed below:

1. Restaurant owners shifting burden to the consumers

Research4 by Legislative Council Member Tommy Cheung shows that

53.8% of the restaurants have increased their prices after the

minimum wage has been implemented: increasing revenue by

increasing prices due to the inelastic demand for food is in turn

cancelling out the effect of the increased prices in labor. This essay

assumes that food is inelastic due to its high necessity, meaning that

an increase in price will only lead to a small decrease in quantity

demanded, generating larger revenue. With the larger revenue, this

reduces the need to fire the workers.

2. Booming Chinese Economy

While the Hong Kong economy is growing at slow rates recently, the

booming Chinese Economy brings a lot of visitors from the Mainland

China, and visiting restaurants is one of the mandatory routines of

such visitors. The increased demand for the restaurants resulting from

the Mainland Chinese tourists increases the need of more manpower

and resource for this industry.

4 Hong Kong Catering Industry Association. "《香港飲食業最低工資調查》結果." Hong Kong Catering Industry Association, 20 Apr. 2010. Web. 10 July 2012.


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3. Strong physical labor and minimal welfare in the industry

As Simon Wong Ka-‐Wo, chairman of the Hong Kong Food Committee,

has pointed out, “People tend to choose large restaurant corporations

for better welfare since the salary is more or less the same. At the

same time, more manpower is going to the security and retail

industries, so smaller restaurants find it very hard to hire people.”5

This is the perfect testimony of why there is a decrease in labor, in

particular for the small-‐medium sized restaurants in Hong Kong, as

workers now tend to shift their occupations with either fewer efforts

such as security guards, or more welfare by going into larger

restaurant corporations.

Factors 1 and 2 contribute to increasing the demand for labor, while factor 3

decreases the supply of labor. Consider the labor market for the cleaners in such

restaurants:

5 Zhao, Shirley. http://www.timeout.com.hk/big-‐smog/features/50262/the-‐28-‐minimum-‐wage-‐one-‐year-‐on.html. 23 Apr 2012. 25 Aug 2012 <http://www.timeout.com.hk/big-‐smog/features/50262/the-‐28-‐minimum-‐wage-‐one-‐year-‐on.html>.


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The increase in demand for labor from D1 to D2 and the decrease in supply from

S1 to S2 with reference to the reasons above shifts the price of labor above the

28-‐dollar range and even residing at the point of 31 dollars. Now, the market

equilibrium resides at point B, rendering the SMW an ineffective price floor. The

quantity of labor has also increased due to this, which can explain the fall of

unemployment, shown in the diagram where there is an increase of labor from

Q1 to Q2. This diagram, although hypothetical in nature and unable to draw in

practical, can illustrate how the establishment of the SMW does not affect the job

security of the industry itself.


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Does the SMW increase the real wages of the workers?

Overview

As the SMW is set at $28, this price floor may not be effective for jobs where the

wages have surpassed $28 even before the SMW, as it is a non-‐binding price floor

for those jobs. This part investigates whether the real wages of all the workers

increase when compared to the inflation rates.

Findings

There is a universal increase in wages after the establishment of the SMW as all

of the participants replied that they have had their wages increased on Q6,

shown below:

However, this cannot effectively draw conclusions as to whether the real wages

have increased. Their wages before and after the SMW have been asked on Q5

and Q7 respectively, and their wages are averaged and tabulated, shown below:

100%

0%

Q6: Did you receive a pay rise after the establishment of the minimum wage?

Yes No


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The inflation rates are tabulated alongside the percentage increase in wages to

see whether the real wages have increased, shown below:

As we can see, the increase in wages has surpassed the inflation rates. In

particular the dishwashing and cleaning occupations have received the biggest

increase in income. They have received on average a 25% pay rise, while

compared to the 18% and 17% increases of the waiters and chefs respectively. It

25

29 28

35.8

31.3

34 33

38

20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40

Cleaners Chefs Waiters Managers*

Wages (H

KD)

Type of Job

Mean wages for different types of workers before and after the SMW

Before SMW After SMW

25%

17% 18%

6% 5.1% 3.8%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Cleaners Chefs Waiters Managers* Inolation (May

2011-‐2012)

CPI (A) (May 2011-‐2012)

Percentage Increase of W

ages

Type of Job

Comparison between percentage increase of wages and in@lation after the SMW


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should be noted that an interesting fact is that the biggest percentage increase

occurs in occupations where they were previously paid the lowest.

Compared to the year-‐on-‐year inflation from May 2011-‐2012, a 5.1% increase,

and the consumer price index (A)6, which is the index for the relatively low

expenditure homes, has seen a 3.8% increase, we can see the apparent effect of

the SMW on the increase of real wages.

However, the wage increases of the managers cannot be effectively measured

because of the flaws in the survey, which will be discussed in later parts.

The results of the survey are generally coherent with the results shown by the

Census and Statistics department. The data from the department shows that the

salary for the food and beverages industry has increased by 12.5%. Hong Kong

Confederation of Trade Unions also estimated that “over 300,000 workers, or

11.3% of the work received a pay increment averaging 16.9%.”7

In Q12 and Q13, which asks about the living standards before and after the

establishment of the SMW, the results show consistency and positive correlation

with their increase in wages, shown next page:

6 Census and Statistics Department. "Consumer Price Indices for May 2012." Census and Statistics Department. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 21 June 2012. Web. 16 Jan. 2013. 7 Singapore Armchair Critic. HONG KONG’S MINIMUM WAGE: WHAT IMPACT ON JOBS AND PAY? 7 June 2012. 25 Aug 2012

2.2

2.3

2.4

2.5

2.6

2.7

2.8

2.9

Before SMW After SMW

Points

Mean rating of living standards before and after SMW (out of 5 points as maximum)


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The 50 participants reported to have a 0.36-‐point increase out of five when they

rated their living standards; no one in the survey mentioned that there was a

decrease in living standards.

Analysis

The factors that contribute to the situation, which are listed below:

1. SMW does not serve as a binding price floor for higher pay workers in the

industry

The situation before the establishment of the SMW is that a lot of the low-‐

pay workers were working under the minimum wage, and therefore,

there is a large percentage increase in their wages. However, higher pay

workers, have also had their wages increased to match up with the

inflation, but in a percentage less than the lower wage workers as their

wages were above the SMW even before the legislation, and there was no

forceful increase on their salaries by the law.

2. Increased demand for lower pay workers leading to a further increased

pay for the workers

As explained previously in the “Job security” section, the increased

demand and decreased supply of labor and the has contributed to the

increased pay for the workers.

3. Higher pay workers receive minimal increase in wages as a measure to

cut costs

As explained in point 1, the establishment of the SMW has not only got the

lower pay workers up to the minimum wage, but even higher than that as

a result of competition with other lower pay occupations. This drastically


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increases the running cost of the company, which may lead to minimal

increase of the wages of higher pay workers to cut costs for the company.

An alternate point of view: Employment benefits?

Despite the fact that our research supports the fact that real wages have

increased, when asked about employment benefits in Q18 as to whether the

employment benefits have changed after the establishment of the SMW, 54% of

the population reported to have decreased unemployment benefits. When asked

in particular what benefits have been decreased, some of them answered that

their meal hours/ meal quality has been decreasing, or even in other cases, that

their lunch hours were not part of their salary.

This is an important point as decreased employment benefits mean that the real

income increase is in a sense overestimated, due to two reasons: the measure

assumes that the working hours and lunch hour salaries are constant before and

after the SMW; and secondly, if life standards need to be constant or improving,

the workers have to increase their spending on daily goods from their wages.

However when interviewed, most interviewers agreed that the decreased

employment benefits was a fair trade-‐off with the increased wages, and they did

not feel negatively about it.

With the workers themselves believing that this was a fair trade-‐off to their

increase in wages, as we conclude that the impacts on the workers as an result of

the decreased employment benefits is less when compared to the increase in

wages.


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An alternate point of view: Does the real income of a worker really increase in

the long run?

With our research it seems evident that the real wages have increase in the past

year. However, as suggested by Mr. Tommy Cheung, the legislative council

member representing the food and beverages industry (who strongly opposed to

the implementation of the minimum wage), such a short term increase might not

be beneficial to the workers in the long term, as he argues that the SMW is an

important factor that sparks a large increase in inflation: according to news

articles the inflation rate of Hong Kong went up to as high as 7.9% after the

implementation of the SMW8. He argues that the long-‐term inflation will

eventually “eat up” the real increase of wages, worsening the lives of the workers.

While this point is valid in theory, we must also assess the fact that the wages

have gone up by such a huge percentage that even if wages stay static for a long

time and inflation slowly increases (which is not a likely case), it would still take

a long time for the inflation to completely consume the real increase.

8 Leung, Sophie. Hong Kong’s ‘Scary’ 7.9% Inflation May Fuel Wages Even as Recession Looms. 23 Aug 2011. 25 Aug 2012


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Does the SMW cause heavier workload for the workers?

Overview

In face of an increase of wages, there are two options that a firm can do to ensure

the same amount of output is given without increasing the expenditure on labor:

Cutting employment benefits, which was discussed above, or to fire the workers

and make the others work more. This part of the investigation discovers

whether the SMW cause heavier workload for the workers, and speculate

whether if affects the productivity of the workers.

Findings

The physique and stamina of the workers has been reported to not to change

after the establishment of the SMW.

In questions where it asks the participants about their workload, almost all of

them answered to have no change in the workload, shown below:

2% 4%

94%

Q8. Has your workload changed after the establishment of the minimum wage?

Increased Decreased No Change


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Interestingly, the secondary sources contradict the results yielded by the survey.

Lacking interviews from the workers of the food and beverages industry, the

other interviews from other lower pay jobs suggest that they were forced to

work more within the time limit as a result of laying off workers.

The physical and psychological pressure has not been affected as well, as shown

in the poll, shown on the next page:

4%

16%

80%

Q9. Has your health changed after the establishment of the minimum wage？

Healthier Worse Health No Change

4%

18%

78%

Q10: Has your pressure changed after the establishment of the minimum wage law?



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An interesting point to note is that 18% have answered to have “less pressure”

after the establishment of the SMW. This essay believes that this maybe a result,

but not entirely based on, the decreased job rivalry of the industry.

It appears that the general trend amongst the industry appears to be that the

establishment of the SMW does not affect the workload, health and pressure of a

worker.

With other secondary research of other low-‐pay industries not supporting the

results of the survey, it seems that we cannot generalize the results of other

lower-‐pay occupations to the food and beverages industry. The discrepancies in

results will be explained in the following analysis.


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Analysis-‐ Why does the workload not increase after the SMW?

The reason why physique and stamina was a concern that was investigated in

this essay was because there was an assumption at first that the establishment of

the SMW will increase the price of labor, forcing employers to cut costs by firing

employees, and making the rest of the employees work more to solve the

problem. However, contrary to expectations, the workload and health of the

workers has not been affected. There might be a few reasons for this, listed

below:

1. The minimum wage being on an hourly basis

With the minimum wage law counted on an hourly basis, the employees

who are working overtime will receive pay on an hourly basis anyway,

and it would make no sense for an employer to fire an employee and

make the other one works extra hours.

2. The heavy workload of the food and beverages industry

When asked why the workload has not been increasing after the SMW,

many of the workers replied that workload couldn’t further increase. The

food and beverages industry is one where the workload is immense

during lunch and dinner hours compared to other occupations. The

strong demand for restaurants as mentioned before, accompanied with

the working nature of the restaurant workers, has not allowed the

employers to increase any workload on the workers.

Given the fact that the health of the workers does not change after the SMW, we

can assume that the productivity of a worker has not changed. What this means

is that there will be no positive or negative effects brought to the general

productivity of the industry.


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Limitations of Research

This investigation, although able to have grasped information about how the

SMW has affected the workers in restaurants, has some limitations, which are

listed below:

1. The questionnaire did not investigate on the delivery workers

The delivery workers have long been the most underpaid and

unprotected type of workers in restaurants. The questionnaire did not

have the opportunity to investigate on such workers, as they were not

available in the restaurants and therefore this investigation cannot

generalize results to that type of workers.

2. Not all aspects of the workers have been investigated

The question that this essay attempts to ask is how the SMW will affect

the worker as a whole-‐ however, it fails to address all the aspects of the

workers due to various reasons such as being unable to collect useful data

or being bound by the word limit. An example of a missed out important

aspect would be how the SMW affects the income inequality of Hong Kong.

3. The sample participants in the investigation are not representative

Only fifty participants are interviewed in the survey and compared to the

large population in this industry, this may not be representative enough

for the whole industry. Furthermore, only five restaurants were used as

for convenience and the minimal number of restaurants used can also be

questioned on the ability to generalize data to a broader context.


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4. The survey did not accurately measure wage levels for higher-‐pay

workers

The wage levels of the workers in the survey were underestimated and

the wage level of “$35 or above” was the highest band in the survey;

however some of the managers happened to have wages over $35 even

before the SMW, which made measuring the rate of increase of wage

impossible, which made the investigation impossible to completely

measure the effects of the SMW of higher pay workers. Furthermore, if a

person has ticked “$35 or above”, this essay automatically assumes that

their wage is $38, which is not an accurate guess, but is the best that can

be done with the limitations of this essay.


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Conclusion

Contradictory to most predictions that the SMW will force many employers to

fire their workers, this has proven not to be the case. The job security of the

employees at this stage is not affected; however, this is very dependent and

vulnerable to changes of the economy, as such an industry relies heavily on

consumer confidence, purchasing power and tourism.

Income increase for the workers after the SMW has also surpassed the inflation

rate by a large margin, which shows that the purchasing power of the workers

have increased, supported by their own ratings of their living standards before

and after the SMW. The lower pay occupations in the industry have benefitted

the most. However the percentage increase in higher pay occupations, with the

managers in particular, remain unknown. While effective in the short run, it

remains unknown in the long run, as the inflation may catch up with the wages

soon.

Contrary to predictions, the psychological and physical impact on individuals of

the working force is not as affected as expected. It is predicted not to change

even in the future, given that as long as the minimum wage law stays at an hourly

rate basis.

After weighing out the pros and cons, it appears that the SMW can benefit the

workers from the lower-‐income proportions. For the higher income population,

the SMW still affects them positively, but to a lesser extent.

It is still debatable whether the SMW has impacted the workers positively or

negatively, however, in this investigation, the pros outweigh the cons, and it

suggests that the establishment of the Statutory Minimum Wage does more good

than harm to the workers in the small fast-‐food restaurants in Hong Kong.


27

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Aug 2012 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-‐14230497>.

Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department. "Monthly Report on the Consumer

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Department. 25 Aug 2012

<http://www.statistics.gov.hk/pub/B10600012012MM05B0100.pdf>.

Kwok, Donna. "HK job market sails through 1st month of minimum wage." 16

June 2011. HSBC Global Research. HSBC. 25 Aug 2012

<http://www.fccihk.com/files/dpt_image/3_news/Company%20news/PDFs/H

K%20job%20market%20sails%20through%201st%20month%20of%20minim

um%20wage.pdf>.

Leung, Sophie. Hong Kong’s ‘Scary’ 7.9% Inflation May Fuel Wages Even as

Recession Looms. 23 Aug 2011. 25 Aug 2012

<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-‐08-‐22/hong-‐kong-‐s-‐worst-‐inflation-‐

since-‐1995-‐may-‐boost-‐recession-‐risk.html>.

—. Hong Kong’s Inflation May Boost Recession Risk. 25 Aug 2012

<http://saigontexnews.com/hong-‐kongs-‐inflation-‐may-‐boost-‐recession-‐risk-‐

p5773-‐76.htm>.

—. Hong Kong’s Unemployment Rate Stays at 13-‐Year Low of 3.2%. 18 Oct 2011.

25 Aug 2012 <http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-‐10-‐18/hong-‐kong-‐s-‐

unemployment-‐rate-‐stays-‐at-‐13-‐year-‐low-‐of-‐3-‐2-‐1-‐.html>.

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JOBS AND PAY? 7 June 2012. 25 Aug 2012

<http://singaporearmchaircritic.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/hong-‐kongs-‐

minimum-‐wage-‐what-‐impact-‐on-‐jobs-‐and-‐pay/>.


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<http://www.classifiedpost.com/career-‐centre/your-‐industry/hotels-‐catering-‐

tourism/good-‐appetite-‐dining-‐out>.

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<http://www.tradingeconomics.com/hong-‐kong/inflation-‐cpi>.

—. Hong Kong Unemployment Rate. 1 May 2011. 25 Aug 2012

<http://www.tradingeconomics.com/hong-‐kong/unemployment-‐rate>.

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29

Appendix 1 Survey for Employees in Chinese 員工問卷

1. 年齡組別 18-25 ☐ 25-40 ☐ 40-55 ☐ 55 或以上 ☐

2. 你在餐廳擔任什麼職位？樓面 ☐ 廚師 ☐ 經理 ☐ 清潔 ☐

3. 最低工資立法之前，你的那一種受聘種類的員工？全職人士 ☐ 兼職人士 ☐ 自僱人士 ☐

4. 最低工資立法之後，你的那一種受聘種類的員工？全職人士 ☐ 兼職人士 ☐ 自僱人士 ☐

5. 請問最低工資立法之前，你的時薪是什麼 ? ＄18-＄21 ☐ ＄22-＄25 ☐ ＄26 -＄30 ☐ ＄31- $34 ☐ 35 或以上☐

6. 最低工資立法以後，有沒有加人工？有 ☐ 無 ☐

7. 請問現在的時薪是什麼 ? ＄28 ☐ ＄29-＄31 ☐ ＄31-＄33 ☐ ＄33-＄35 ☐ ＄35 以上 ☐

8. 最低工資立法之後，你的工作量有沒有改變？增加了 ☐ 減少了 ☐ 無改變 ☐

9. 最低工資立法後，你的健康比以前好了還是差了？比以前健康 ☐ 比以前差了 ☐ 無改變 ☐

10. 最低工資立法之後，你的壓力有沒有改變？增加了 ☐ 減少了 ☐ 無改變 ☐

11. 最低工資立法之前，如果你要將你的生活以一至五評分，以一最差，而五最好，你的評分會是什麼?

1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐

12. 最低工資立法之後，如果你要將你的生活以一至五評分，以一最差，而五最好，你的評分會是什麼?

1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐


30

最低工資立法之後，行內的競爭有沒有更加激烈或者減少？

更加激烈 ☐ 少了競爭 ☐ 無改變 ☐

13. 你有否認識任何人因為最低工資的立法而被開除？如果有，請問有多少位？

無 ☐ 1－2 位 ☐ 3－4 位 ☐ 五位或以上 ☐

14. 你的僱主在最低工資立法後對員工的福利有沒有增加或者減少了？增加了 ☐ 減少了☐ 無改變 ☐

15. 總括而言，你對現在的最低工資滿意否？滿意 ☐ 不滿意 ☐ 中立 ☐


31

Appendix 2 Translation of the Survey for Employees

1. Age Group 18-25 ☐ 25-40 ☐ 40-55 ☐ 55 or above ☐

2. What is your occupation in the restaurant? Waiter ☐ Kitchen work ☐ Manager ☐ Cleaning ☐

3. What were your contract terms before the establishment of the minimum wage law? Fully Employed ☐ Part- Time ☐ Self Employed ☐

4. What were your contract terms after the establishment of the minimum wage law? Fully Employed ☐ Part- Time ☐ Self Employed ☐

5. What was your hourly wage before the establishment of the minimum wage law? ＄18-＄21 ☐ ＄22-＄25 ☐ ＄26 -＄30 ☐ ＄31- $34 ☐ $35 or above ☐

6. Did you get a raise after the establishment of the minimum wage law? Yes ☐ No ☐

7. What is your current hourly salary? ＄28 ☐ ＄29-＄31 ☐ ＄31-＄33 ☐ ＄33-＄35 ☐ Above $35 ☐

8. Has your workload changed after the establishment of the minimum wage law? Increased ☐ Decreased ☐ No Change ☐

9. Has your health changed after the establishment of the minimum wage law？ Healthier ☐ Worse health ☐ No Change ☐

10. Has your pressure changed after the establishment of the minimum wage law? Increased ☐ Decreased ☐ No Change ☐

11. If you had to rate your life out of five before the establishment of the minimum wage law, what would be your rating? 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐

12. If you had to rate your life out of five after the establishment of the minimum wage law, what would be your rating? 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐

13. Has the job competition changed after the establishment of the minimum wage law? More competitive ☐ Less Competitive ☐ No Change ☐


32

14. Do you know anybody who has been fired after the establishment of the minimum wage law? If yes, how many? None ☐ 1-2 people ☐ 3-4 people ☐ 5 people or above ☐

15. Has the employment benefits changed after the establishment of the minimum wage law? Increased ☐ Decreased ☐ No Change ☐

16. In general, are you satisfied with the minimum wage law? Yes ☐ No ☐ Neutral ☐


33

Appendix 3

Interview Questions asked to the workers of the restaurants

1. In here you filled in that you did not have increased workload or suffered health decay after the minimum wage. Have your employers not increased your workload?

2. Why do you think your employers did not increase your workload?

3. How have your employers cut your employment benefits?

4. Is the decrease in employment benefits similar in all occupations?

5. If your employment benefits were regained but your wage would be reduced to the one before the minimum wage, would you trade it?

Appendix 4 List and addresses of restaurants used in survey

1. 川居雲南風味米線專門店旺角花園街 113號利興大樓低下

2. 新華酒家東涌馬灣涌 57 號地下

3. 龍山冰室紅磡老龍坑街 9至 13地鋪

4. 安利魚蛋粉筲箕灣筲箕灣東大街 22號

5. 老坑火鍋紅磡曲街 25-‐31號後巷


34

Appendix 5

6%

28%

54%

12%

Q1. Age Group 18-‐25 25-‐40 40-‐55 55 or above

26%

40%

24%

10%

Q2: Occupation within restaurant Chefs Waiters Cleaners Managers


35

82%

18%

0%

Q3: Employment Terms before minimum wage

Full Employed Part Time Self Employed

82%

18%

0%

Q4: Employment Terms after minimum wage

Full Employed Part Time Self Employed

16%

22%

40%

17%

5%

Q5: What was your hourly salary before the minimum wage? 18-‐21 22-‐25 26-‐30 31-‐34 35 or above


36

100%

0%

Q6: Did you receive a pay rise after the establishment of the minimum wage?

Yes No

0%

12%

48% 26%

14%

Q7: What is your current hourly salary?

28 29-‐31 31-‐33 33-‐35 Above 35

2% 4%

94%

Q8. Has your workload changed after the establishment of the minimum

wage? Increased Decreased No Change


37

4%

16%

80%

Q9. Has your health changed after the establishment of the minimum wage？

Healthier Worse Health No Change

4%

18%

78%

Q10: Has your pressure changed after the establishment of the minimum wage law?


6%

46%

48%

Q11: If you had to rate your life out of @ive before the establishment of the minimum wage law, what

would be your rating?

1 mark 2 marks 3 marks 4 marks 5 marks


38

2%

28%

60%

10%

Q12: If you had to rate your life out of @ive after the establishment of the minimum wage law, what

would be your rating?

1 mark 2 marks 3 marks 4 marks 5 marks

6%

20%

74%

Q13: Has the job competition changed after the establishment of the minimum wage

law?

More Competition Less Competition No Change

100%

0% 0% 0%

Q14: Do you know anybody who has been @ired after the establishment of the

minimum wage law? If yes, how many?

None 1-‐2 people 3-‐4 people 5 people or above


39

0%

54% 46%

Q15: Has the employment bene@its changed after the establishment of the minimum wage

law?

Increased Decreased No change

46%

20%

34%

Q16: In general, are you satisi@ied of the minimum wage? Yes No No opinion

International Baccalaureate Extended Essay

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