Yip Paul, Chan Milton, So B K, Wat K P, Lam Kwok Fai
Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China.
Center for Suicide Research and Prevention, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China.
China Popul Dev Stud. 2021;4(3):284-297. doi: 10.1007/s42379-020-00069-z. Epub 2020 Oct 27.
Social security is an important social and public policy measure to help address poverty in any contemporary society. The Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) system in Hong Kong provides a safety net for those aged children and adults below 65 years old who cannot support themselves financially. It is designed to bring their income up to a prescribed level to meet their basic needs. The rapid increase in social welfare expenditure in the last decade has become a concern to the Hong Kong SAR Government. The overall social welfare expenditure has accounted for nearly 15.6% of government expenditure in 2018, with the total amount increasing from $58 billion to $90 billion (an increase of 72.4%) for the period 2014-2018. However, the amount spent on CSSA only increased from $20.7 billion to $22.3 billion with an increase of 7.7% only for the same period. The much slower magnitude of increase is related to the reduction in the number of CSSA recipients, which decreased from 237,501 to 185,528 over the period. A decomposition method was used to assess the changes in the number of people in the CSSA system. It showed that the rate of arriving into the system has been decreasing due to a robust economy with a very low unemployment rate; whereas moving out of the system has also been decreasing in the past 5 years. This phenomenon can be partly attributed to the widening of the income gap in the community in the period. Despite the increase in population size, as long as employment conditions remain strong and the momentum of leaving the system can be maintained, the number of CSSA recipients will continue to decrease. However, the results also suggested that a certain proportion of CSSA recipients will not be able to move out of the system and have been trapped. Some innovative methods to help them out of CSSA are discussed. In view of the poor economic outlook arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important for the Government to have effective measures to keep people in their jobs. If the unemployment rate will does not substantially increase and then increase of in CSSA recipients can be contained.
社会保障是当代社会中帮助解决贫困问题的一项重要社会公共政策措施。香港的综合社会保障援助（综援）系统为那些在经济上无法自给的儿童及65岁以下成年人提供了一个安全网。其目的是将他们的收入提高到规定水平，以满足他们的基本需求。过去十年社会福利开支的迅速增加已成为香港特区政府关注的问题。2018年整体社会福利开支占政府开支近15.6%，2014 - 2018年期间总额从580亿港元增至900亿港元（增长72.4%）。然而，同期综援开支仅从207亿港元增至223亿港元，仅增长7.7%。增长幅度慢得多与综援受助人数量减少有关，在此期间受助人数量从237,501人降至185,528人。采用了一种分解方法来评估综援系统内人数的变化。结果表明，由于经济强劲、失业率极低，进入该系统的比率一直在下降；而在过去5年中，离开该系统的比率也在下降。这种现象部分可归因于该时期社区收入差距的扩大。尽管人口规模有所增加，但只要就业状况保持强劲且离开该系统的势头能够维持，综援受助人数量将继续减少。然而，结果还表明，一定比例的综援受助人无法离开该系统并陷入困境。讨论了一些帮助他们摆脱综援的创新方法。鉴于2019冠状病毒病疫情导致经济前景不佳，政府采取有效措施让人们保住工作非常重要。如果失业率不会大幅上升，那么综援受助人数量的增加就能得到控制。
