By Dr. Kevin Lau
In order to cherish resources and avoid waste and misallocation, precision has become crucial in many social services today. Precision is required in poverty alleviation, and it becomes even more important in youth development affairs. Otherwise, not only would it waste social resources, but it could also potentially hinder the future development of young people. The responsibility is indeed significant.
The Hong Kong government released the "Poverty Situation Report" in November 2021. Of course, not every young person is impoverished, and we should not label them as such. However, this report touches upon various aspects concerning young people and can serve as a useful entry point for understanding youth issues.
I believe that the range of problems faced by young people in Hong Kong is quite broad. Here, we can focus on discussing two relatively common issues: working poverty and housing difficulties. Firstly, the "Poverty Situation Report" defines youth as individuals aged 18 to 29 and provides a more in-depth analysis based on their age and economic activities (see the graph below). The report highlights the concerning situation of youth poverty in Hong Kong. In 2020, the number of young people in poverty and the poverty rate were 143,600 and 15.6%, respectively. Both figures were higher than those of 2019, indicating a worsening situation.
Among the impoverished young people aged 18 to 24, nearly 70% are still studying, which can be understandable. However, when we look at the group of impoverished young people aged 25 to 29, we find that about 90% have completed their studies, yet nearly 70% (69.5%) are unemployed. Within this group, there are 30% who are working poor, and many of them hold higher educational qualifications. Among them, about 55% have full-time jobs. As most of them are the sole employed members of their households, they bear a significant burden of family financial responsibilities.
It is well-known that property prices in Hong Kong rank among the highest in the world. In other words, it is not easy to own property in Hong Kong. Therefore, for young people who are just starting out and have not yet accumulated substantial economic strength, the difficulty of property ownership is even greater. As a result, the homeownership rate among young people in Hong Kong is relatively low. According to statistics, owners under the age of 35 account for only 7.6% of the overall self-owned housing. Looking at the numbers, from 2001 to 2021, the average monthly income of young people in Hong Kong increased by only about 20% to 30%, while property prices soared nearly fourfold during the same period. This harsh reality, where income cannot catch up with the surge in property prices, fully explains why housing difficulties have become a predicament for many young people. Even if they are fortunate enough to afford a property, they can only afford smaller and smaller living spaces. The Chinese saying "establishing a family and settling down" is often used to describe the next stage of life for young people, but without property, how easy is it to establish a family and settle down?
Working poverty and housing difficulties are undoubtedly challenges faced by young people in Hong Kong. However, the author often asks the question: How do young people themselves perceive these issues? If we only consider them from an adult perspective, would we make the mistake of engaging in mere theoretical discussions and misallocate precious social resources? In communication with young people, I have found that further education and mental health are also issues of great concern to them. Therefore, in order to have a clear and accurate understanding of the actual situation before allocating resources, we must understand the problems from the perspective of young people themselves. This may require conducting a more specialized youth survey. Only by directly asking the "users" can we truly understand the real "market conditions."
The author is a specialist in radiology, with a master's degree in Public Health from the University of Hong Kong, and an adviser of Our Hong Kong Foundation.
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