HK's welfare cases down 0.3% in August

The overall Comprehensive Social Security Assistance caseload dropped by 698 cases to 210,367 in August, down 0.3% from July, the Social Welfare Department announced Monday.

The total number of recipients was 296,887.

Low-earnings cases registered a month-to-month drop of 1.3% to 1,986, while single parent cases declined 1% to 23,126. Old age cases decreased by 0.5% to 118,129. Permanent disability cases dipped slightly by 0.2% to 17,356.

Ill-health cases rose by 0.7% to 27,202.

Unemployment cases decreased by 0.4% to 18,561 on a month-to-month basis, representing a rise of about 47.4% compared with January 2020 when Hong Kong just started its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The average number of applications for unemployment cases between June and August was 484 per month, down 3.2% from the May to July figure.