The politics of minimum wage legislation in Hong Kong: critical policy change in a semi-democracy

Abstract

This article discusses the case of minimum wage legislation (MWL) in Hong Kong. Among the Asian late industrializers, Hong Kong has most upheld the idea of economic noninterventionism. There is also longstanding partnership between the authoritarian state and the business sector. Given this background, Hong Kong seems an unlikely candidate for MWL. Since the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, however, a movement has emerged comprising labor unions, civil society organizations and pro-grassroots politicians, exerting unprecedented political pressure on the government to legislate minimum wage protection for workers. After a decade of social campaign and against all odds, the movement successfully compelled the government to agree to the legislation, resulting in the enactment of Minimum Wage Ordinance in July 2010. Taking the findings of the politics of social policy change in Asia as reference, we shall discuss how critical social policy change in Hong Kong can be explained by the dynamics of the state and civil society. Especially, we shall investigate how the semi-democratic setting of Hong Kong shapes the action of the state and the impact of civil society mobilization.