Hong Kong: workfare in the world's freest economy

Chan, CK ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9461-8623, 2011. Hong Kong: workfare in the world's freest economy. International Journal of Social Welfare, 20 (1), pp. 22-32.

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Abstract

Workfare was introduced in many countries to suppress welfare dependency and reduce social security expenditures. However, workfare was launched in Hong Kong when there was only a relatively small social security budget and its citizens still strongly adhered to the ideologies of self-reliance. It was found that workfare has performed several functions in Hong Kong. Firstly, it has forced unemployed claimants to give up benefits so that Hong Kong's social security expenditures can be saved. Secondly, workfare had combined with Hong Kong's semi-democratic polity so that extremely stigmatising welfare measures were implemented. Thirdly, it has pushed poor citizens to the labour market without having any protection over wages and working hours. Thus, the combination of workfare and a semi-democratic polity has successfully suppressed Hong Kong's welfare demands and strengthened its self-help spirit. As a result, Hong Kong's minimal social security scheme and its low tax policy have been maintained.

Item Type:	Journal article
Description:	The definitive version is available at www3.interscience.wiley.com
Publication Title:	International Journal of Social Welfare
Creators:	Chan, C.K.
Publisher:	Wiley-Blackwell (ELF)
Date:	2011
Volume:	20
Number:	1
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1111/j.1468-2397.2009.00712.x DOI
Rights:	Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	EPrints Services
Date Added:	09 Oct 2015 11:00
Last Modified:	06 Dec 2023 10:34
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/21344

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