The Economic Roots of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong: Globalization and the Rise of China by Louis Augustin-Jean & Anthea H Y Cheung

Author:Louis Augustin-Jean & Anthea H Y Cheung [Augustin-Jean, Louis & Cheung, Anthea H Y]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Political Science, World, Sociology, Asian, Regional Studies, General
ISBN: 9781351255493
Google: 5T1MDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 38640950
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Source: unpublished data from the C&SD.

Note

Figures are rounded to the nearest hundred.

Despite their limitations, Tables 3.2 and 3.3 offered some interesting insights. On the positive side, Table 3.3 showed that, from 2003 to 2014 the average monthly income of fresh graduates increased slightly quicker than inflation. It also progressed more than the median monthly income of the overall workforce – which actually experienced a relative drop from HK$12,380 in 2001 to HK$11,590 in 2006 before increasing slightly to HK$12,000 in 2011 (in 2011 prices). On the negative side, however, Table 3.2 showed that in 2014, the median monthly income for fresh graduates remained basically unchanged since 1997 – while Hong Kong’s GDP grew by over 74 per cent and the GDP per capita by about 53.5 per cent over the same period (in 2013 chained dollars). Similarly, from 2003 to 2013, GDP grew by 59.3 per cent and the GDP per capita by 45.6 per cent (C&SD, 2014b and c), but the incomes of degree holders only rose by 26.8 per cent and those for sub-degree holders by 23.2 per cent (Tables 3.2 and 3.3 give comparable results). Thus, even though the two series of data had slightly different periodicities, most of the income growth from 2003 to 2008 rather than being a real increase, simply made up for the income drops that happened during the economic crises of 1997 and 2003.41 After 2008, salaries again experienced a sharp drop before another recovery allowed them to reach 2008 levels in 2013/2014 (adjusted for inflation, as shown in Table 3.3). The crisis also affected degree and sub-degree holders differently – the drop was immediate for the former, but delayed until 2011 for the latter (see Table 3.3).

It may, therefore, be useful to detail degree and sub-degree holders separately. For degree holders, the bulk of their income growth occurred between 2003 and 2008 (+31.9). After that, their incomes mostly stagnated. In real terms, their 2008 income levels have yet to be reached and even decreased again in 2014 (see Table 3.3). At the same time, Hong Kong’s GDP increased by 35 per cent from 2003 to 2008 (slightly outpacing graduates’ incomes) and by another 17 per cent from 2008 to 2014.

For sub-degree holders, the situation was different. Their incomes increased steadily until 2010 before dropping by 10 per cent in 2011 and recovering rather slowly since then.42 However, the reasons for their recovery lag compared to degree holders are difficult to determine – in part because the sample was small, as many sub-degree graduates decided to further their studies to obtain Bachelor’s degrees. The different evolutions of sub-degree and degree holders may well indicate a segmentation of the labour market with separated dynamics for sub-degree holders (mainly ‘programmed’ to become technical and support staff – part of the so-called ‘associate professionals’) and for Bachelor’s degree holder who are supposedly destined to be future managers. The evolution of the wage difference between degree and sub-degree holders, nearly inexistent at the start of their

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