After passing its first reading last week, the minimum wage adjustment bill saw its first committee discussion yesterday.
After the meeting, committee president Vong Hin Fai told a press conference that the committee will strive for closing discussions as soon as possible, allowing the plenary to pass the bill at the second reading, which means it can be enacted on New Year’s Day.
Vong promised not only that discussions will proceed quickly, but that questions will be collected and compiled as promptly, in order to leave more time for the government to contemplate answers that will be given to the committee personally at a subsequent meeting.
It is proposed that the wage be raised from MOP32 per hour to MOP34 per hour. Vong disclosed that the committee is seeking more statistics and data from the government in support of the proposed level of adjustment.
Meanwhile, similar to the discussions at the first reading of the bill, committee members also expressed their concerns over the efficiency of review of the minimum wage level. The current wage was first implemented on Nov. 1, 2020. Pursuant to the law, review can only be conducted two years after the enactment, which was Nov. 1, 2022. Vong said that the committee would like the government to explain the mechanism or guidelines by which the review would be conducted. Several lawmakers, Vong added, called for a topical taskforce under the Social Coordination Permanent Commission to be established to improve efficiency of the review.
The suggestion to establish a dedicated taskforce was also raised at the first reading of the bill.
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