Employment Protection and Unemployment Assistance for Lowincome Workers in Hong Kong during Covid-19

Abstract

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the poverty and unemployment rates in Hong Kong had soared due to economic downturn and tight social distancing measures. Unemployment rate had rose from 3% in 2019 to 6.6% in January 2021, highest in 16 years, with 245,000 people out of jobs. The unemployment rate of the food and beverage sector is even higher at 13.8%. During the pandemic, economic recession has hit the grassroot workers disproportionately. Many became unemployed or underemployed and fell into poverty or deeper poverty. Yet, the current relief measures and unemployment benefits provided by the government are inadequate, piecemeal, and focused more on benefiting business enterprises. There is insufficient unemployment assistance that target specifically and adequately at the low-income grassroot workers who are most hit by the economic recession. Many unemployed poor fell through the social safety net and are not currently protected by the any social security assistance scheme. This paper aims to review the current policy measures of the government tackling unemployment in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, evaluate its approaches and to provide policy suggestions that can enhance employment opportunities, provide adequate unemployment assistance and skills training targeted at low-income workers to strengthen their long term resilience in the job market.