The Immigration Department (ImmD) mounted a territory-wide anti-illegal worker operation codenamed "Twilight" on June 24 and 26. A total of 10 illegal workers and five suspected employers were arrested.

     During the operation, ImmD Task Force officers raided 29 target locations including commercial buildings, a garbage collection depot, a hostel, an industrial building, a massage parlour, offices, a recycling site and restaurants. Ten illegal workers and five employers were arrested. The illegal workers comprised three men and seven women, aged 27 to 54. Among them, three men and two women were suspected of using and being in possession of forged Hong Kong identity cards. Meanwhile, three men and two women, aged 24 to 55, were suspected of employing the illegal workers.

     "Any person who contravenes a condition of stay in force in respect of him shall be guilty of an offence. Also, visitors are not allowed to take employment in Hong Kong, whether paid or unpaid, without the permission of the Director of Immigration. Offenders are liable to prosecution and upon conviction face a maximum fine of $50,000 and up to two years' imprisonment. Aiders and abettors are also liable to prosecution and penalties," an ImmD spokesman said.

     The spokesman warned that, as stipulated in section 38AA of the Immigration Ordinance, illegal immigrants or people who are the subject of a removal order or a deportation order are prohibited from taking any employment, whether paid or unpaid, or establishing or joining in any business. Offenders are liable upon conviction to a maximum fine of $50,000 and up to three years' imprisonment. The Court of Appeal has issued a guideline ruling that a sentence of 15 months' imprisonment should be applied in such cases. It is an offence to use or possess a forged Hong Kong identity card or a Hong Kong identity card related to another person. Offenders are liable to prosecution and a maximum penalty of a $100,000 fine and up to 10 years' imprisonment.

     The spokesman reiterated that it is a serious offence to employ people who are not lawfully employable. The maximum penalty is imprisonment for three years and a fine of $350,000. The High Court has laid down sentencing guidelines that the employer of an illegal worker should be given an immediate custodial sentence. According to the court sentencing, employers must take all practicable steps to determine whether a person is lawfully employable prior to employment. Apart from inspecting a prospective employee's identity card, the employer has the explicit duty to make enquiries regarding the person and ensure that the answers would not cast any reasonable doubt concerning the lawful employability of the person. The court will not accept failure to do so as a defence in proceedings. It is also an offence if an employer fails to inspect the job seeker's valid travel document if the job seeker does not have a Hong Kong permanent identity card. The maximum penalty for failing to inspect such a document is imprisonment for one year and a fine of $150,000.

     Under the existing mechanism, the ImmD will, as a standard procedure, conduct initial screening of vulnerable persons, including illegal workers, illegal immigrants, sex workers and foreign domestic helpers, who are arrested during any operation with a view to ascertaining whether they are trafficking in persons (TIP) victims. When any TIP indicator is revealed in the initial screening, the officers will conduct a full debriefing and identification by using a standardised checklist to ascertain the presence of TIP elements, such as threat and coercion in the recruitment phase and the nature of exploitation. Identified TIP victims will be provided with various forms of support and assistance, including urgent interference, medical services, counselling, shelter, temporary accommodation and other supporting services. The ImmD calls on TIP victims to report crimes to the relevant departments.

Overall wage and payroll statistics

     According to the figures released today (June 27) by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), the average wage rate for all the selected industry sections surveyed, as measured by the wage index, increased by 3.9% in nominal terms in March 2019 over a year earlier.  

     About 68% of the companies reported increase in average wage rates in March 2019 compared with a year ago. 29% of the companies recorded decrease in average wage rates over the same period. The remaining 3% reported virtually no change in average wage rates.

     After discounting the changes in consumer prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index (A), the overall average wage rate for all the selected industry sections surveyed increased by 1.4% in real terms in March 2019 over a year earlier.

     As for payroll, the index of payroll per person engaged for all the industry sections surveyed increased by 4.0% in nominal terms in the first quarter of 2019 over a year earlier.  

     After discounting the changes in consumer prices as measured by the Composite Consumer Price Index, the average payroll per person engaged increased by 1.8% in real terms in the first quarter of 2019 compared with a year earlier.

     The wage rate includes basic wages and other regular and guaranteed allowances and bonuses. Payroll includes elements covered by wage rate as well as other irregular payments to workers such as discretionary bonuses and overtime allowances. The payroll statistics therefore tend to show relatively larger quarter-to-quarter changes, affected by the number of hours actually worked and the timing of payment of bonuses and back-pay.

Sectoral changes

     For the nominal wage indices, year-on-year increases were recorded in all selected industry sections in March 2019, ranging from 2.8% to 4.9%.

     For the real wage indices, year-on-year increases were also recorded in all selected industry sections in March 2019, ranging from 0.4% to 2.4%.

     The year-on-year changes in the nominal and real wage indices for the selected industry sections from March 2018 to March 2019 are shown in Table 1.

     As for the nominal indices of payroll per person engaged, year-on-year increases were recorded in all selected industry sections in the first quarter of 2019, ranging from 2.4% to 5.2%.

     For the real payroll indices, year-on-year increases were also recorded in all selected industry sections in the first quarter of 2019, ranging from 0.1% to 3.0%.

     The year-on-year changes in the nominal and real indices of payroll per person engaged for selected industry sections from the first quarter of 2018 to the first quarter of 2019 are shown in Table 2. The quarterly changes in the seasonally adjusted nominal and real indices of payroll per person engaged between the first quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019 are shown in Table 3.

Commentary 

     A Government spokesman noted that nominal wages sustained solid year-on-year growth across most industries in March 2019, thanks to tight labour market conditions. After discounting for inflation, real wages continued to see improvement, including those of lower-paid workers.  

     Payroll per person engaged, which covers discretionary bonuses and other irregular payments, also continued to record solid year-on-year growth in the first quarter of 2019. Payroll increases in most industries remained solid, though import/export and wholesale trades, and retail trade saw relatively moderate payroll growth amid subdued performances of the respective sectors.  

     The spokesman added that the stable labour market and the uprating of Statutory Minimum Wage since May 2019 will likely render support to wage growth in the near term, especially so for the grassroots workers. Yet, the Government will monitor the situation closely, in view of the various external headwinds facing the local economy.

Other information

     Both wage indices and payroll indices are compiled quarterly based on the results of the Labour Earnings Survey (LES) conducted by the C&SD.  

     Wage statistics are conceptually different from the payroll statistics. Firstly, wage rate for an employee refers to the sum earned for his normal hours of work. It covers basic wages and other regular and guaranteed allowances and bonuses, but excludes earnings from overtime work and discretionary bonuses, which are however included in payroll per person engaged. Secondly, the payroll index of an industry is an indicator of the simple average payroll received per person engaged in the industry. Its movement is therefore affected by changes in wage rates, number of hours of work and occupational composition in the industry. In contrast, the wage index of an industry is devised to reflect the pure changes in wage rate, with the occupational composition between two successive statistical periods being kept unchanged. In other words, the wage index reflects the change in the price of labour. Thirdly, wage index only covers employees up to the supervisory level (i.e. not including managerial and professional employees), whereas payroll index covers employees at all levels and proprietors actively engaged in the work of the establishment. Because of these conceptual and enumeration differences between payroll and wage statistics, the movements in payroll indices and in wage indices do not necessarily match closely with each other.

     It should also be noted that different consumer price indices are used for compiling the real indices of wage and payroll to take into account the differences in their respective occupation coverage. Specifically, the Composite Consumer Price Index, being an indicator of overall consumer prices, is taken as the price deflator for payroll of workers at all levels of the occupational hierarchy. The Consumer Price Index (A), being an indicator of consumer prices for the relatively low expenditure group, is taken as the price deflator for wages in respect of employees engaged in occupations up to the supervisory level.

     Detailed breakdowns of the payroll and wage statistics are published in the "Quarterly Report of Wage and Payroll Statistics, March 2019". Users can download this publication free of charge from the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp210.jsp?productCode=B1050009).

     For enquiries on wage and payroll statistics, please contact the Wages and Labour Costs Statistics Section (1) of the C&SD (Tel: 2887 5550 or email: wage@censtatd.gov.hk).

     The Thematic Household Survey Report No. 67 is published by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) today (June 27).

     This publication contains key findings on information technology (IT) usage and penetration based on the Thematic Household Survey conducted during June to September 2018.

     Findings of the 2018 survey revealed that the majority of households (92.3%) had access to the Internet at home at the time of enumeration. Among these households, smartphone was the most popular type of device used for Internet connection at home (99.1%), whereas personal computer (PC) came next (81.4%).  

     People using the Internet have been on the rise. The percentage of persons aged 10 and over who had used the Internet during the 12 months before enumeration increased to 90.5% in 2018, from 87.5% in 2016 when a similar survey was conducted then. In particular, the increase was substantial among persons aged 65 and over (from 44.0% to 56.3%).

     Findings of the survey also showed that smartphone had become more popular. Some 5.8 million persons aged 10 and over had smartphone in 2018, around 0.3 million more than that in 2016. The smartphone penetration rate rose from 85.8% in 2016 to 89.8% in 2018. The increase was particularly remarkable among the elderly. About three in five persons aged 65 and over had smartphone in 2018, compared to only around two in five persons aged 65 and over in 2016.

     Moreover, continually more people had knowledge of using PC. The percentage of persons aged 10 and over who had knowledge of using PC was 85.1% in 2018, up from 83.3% in 2016. The increase was particularly remarkable among persons aged 45 to 64 (from 85.7% to 90.0%) and persons aged 65 and over (from 34.5% to 40.8%).

     Findings of the survey also revealed that online purchase had become more popular. The percentage of persons aged 15 and over who had used online purchasing services for personal matters during the 12 months before enumeration increased to 35.8% in 2018, from 27.8% in 2016.

     Confining the reference period to the six months before enumeration, among the persons aged 15 and over who had used online purchasing services for personal matters during the six months before enumeration, the median amount spent in purchasing products / services online during that period was $4,000, markedly higher than the corresponding figure in 2016 ($2,100). Among these persons, online purchase of daily necessities, clothes and footwear (cited by 76.2% of these persons in 2018, up from 65.0% in 2016) and online travel arrangement (cited by 47.3% of these persons in 2018, up from 38.6% in 2016) were most popular.

Other information

     The survey successfully enumerated target respondents in some 10 000 households in accordance with a scientific sampling scheme to represent the population of Hong Kong.

     Detailed findings of the survey (including usage of online purchasing services and electronic Government services), together with the population coverage and concepts/definitions of key terms, are presented in the publication. Users can download the publication free of charge at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/hkstat/sub/sp140.jsp?productCode=B1130201).

     Enquiries about the contents of the publication can be directed to the Social Surveys Section (1) of the C&SD (Tel: 2887 5103 or email: thematic@censtatd.gov.hk).

     The Environment Bureau held the third award ceremony for the Charter on External Lighting today (June 27) to commend about 4 800 participants. They pledged to switch off lighting installations with decorative, promotional or advertising purposes that affect the outdoor environment during preset times to minimise nuisance and energy wastage, and to provide the public with a better environment conducive to sleep.

     The Under Secretary for the Environment, Mr Tse Chin-wan, and the Chairperson of the Working Group on External Lighting, Ms Caroline Mak, officiated at the award ceremony. More than 3 300 participants fulfilling the pledge to switch off external lighting from 11pm to 7am were awarded the Platinum Award, while some 1 200 participants were awarded the Gold Award for switching off external lighting from midnight to 7am. In addition, over 270 participants newly signed up to the Charter this year were granted certificates.

     The Charter participants come from different sectors including building management, property development, hotels and catering, retail, laundries, banking, money exchange shops, pharmacies, pet shops, massage parlours, salons, telecommunications and real estate agencies, as well as schools, public utilities and public/non-governmental organisations. The Charter has effectively connected various sectors in collaboratively minimising light nuisance, which is conducive to maintaining good neighbourhoods.

     "I hope the community will continue to support the Charter by switching off the unnecessary external lighting at preset time, so as to save more and provide the community with a better environment conducive to sleep," Mr Tse said.

     The ceremony also recognised two Partners of the Charter for taking the initiative to encourage through their networks a number of premises with external lighting installations to sign up to the Charter. Ms Mak thanked them for shouldering corporate social responsibility to further promote the Charter to various sectors of the community.

     The Working Group was appointed by the Government in August 2018. Apart from promoting the Charter, the Working Group review the effectiveness of the Charter, and advise the Government on further measures to better manage external lighting. It comprises members from professional bodies, relevant trades, academia, green groups and District Councils. 

     "I hope that the community can actively participate in the coming public activities and express their views, so that the Working Group can consolidate views from different parties, and advise the Government on the way forward for managing external lighting in a more comprehensive and effective approach," Ms Mak said.

     The Environment Bureau launched the Charter in April 2016 to invite owners of and responsible persons for external lighting installations to switch off lighting installations with decorative, promotional or advertising purposes that affect the outdoor environment during preset times (i.e. 11pm or midnight to 7am on the following day). The list of participants is available on the Charter's dedicated website (www.charteronexternallighting.gov.hk).

The following is issued on behalf of the Communications Authority:

     This press release summarises the decisions of the Communications Authority (CA) following its 87th meeting held in June 2019.

Application for renewal of the non-domestic television programme service (non-domestic TV) licence by Times International Media Group Limited (TIMG)
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     The CA decided not to renew the non-domestic TV licence of TIMG under section 11(6) of the Broadcasting Ordinance (BO) (Cap. 562) after its expiry on September 28, 2019.

      TIMG was granted a non-domestic TV licence by the former Broadcasting Authority in 2007 with a validity of 12 years. TIMG operates one 24-hour channel (HKMG TV Chinese Channel) in Putonghua for its non-domestic TV service, providing cultural, arts, general entertainment and TV drama programmes targeting the Asia Pacific region.   

      In considering TIMG's application for licence renewal, the CA took into account, inter alia, the financial and managerial capability of TIMG, the overall performance of TIMG during the current licence period, including serious breaches of relevant licence condition due to prolonged delay in the launch of service and suspension of service on two occasions, and its ability to comply with the relevant regulatory requirements. After considering all the documents and information submitted by TIMG as well as the representations of TIMG in response to the CA's provisional decision, the CA concluded that TIMG had failed to demonstrate that it has the financial and managerial capability to continue to provide the proposed service. TIMG also failed to give sufficient assurances to the CA's satisfaction about its capability to fully comply with all the regulatory requirements if its licence is renewed. Following the CA's decision not to renew TIMG's licence, TIMG shall cease to be a non-domestic TV licensee from September 29, 2019.