The Hong Kong government has announced that it will replace the Employment Support Services (EmSS) under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme with the Support Programme for the Unemployed (SPU) on a pilot basis next year.
The current programme was judged ineffective, with a disappointing 17.9 per cent of EmSS recipients finding employment or returning to mainstream education for three months.
The SPU will mandate that recipients engage in at least one hour of unpaid work each week, with sanctions for non-compliance. This is not a new idea; a workfare scheme introduced in 1999 also required voluntary work once or twice a week but only 13 per cent found work.
In contrast, the Australian government plans to deliver paid job placements through a new WorkFoundations programme. This initiative is timely, given the criticism of low support payments and an ineffective employment services system. An Australian Council of Social Service report highlights that 557,000 people have been on income support for over a year, half of them have health issues and nearly a third are 55 and older.
Therefore, the low rate of people finding work should not be seen as laziness but as failure to address shrinking entry-level jobs.
Similarly, the Singapore government has embraced a new stance on workfare. It is providing up to S$6,000 (US$4,444) over six months to the involuntarily unemployed. This is the first time it is doing so since becoming an independent and sovereign state in 1965, reflecting a paradigm shift.
Comparatively, in Hong Kong, there seems no strong reason to return to a coercive approach to workfare. Figures show that 64 per cent of recipients are over 50, and 93 per cent of single parent-recipients have been on the CSSA Scheme for over a year.
It is important to note that Hong Kong’s labour market has shrunk over the past couple of years, making it harder to find employment.
The government could introduce a demand-side strategy, like creating paid public job placements to absorb welfare recipients. This would not significantly increase public spending, as welfare payments can be reduced when recipients are employed, ultimately improving societal well-being.
Dr Terry Ming Fung Leung
#Workfare #Unemployment #CSSA
