Poverty line set too low for people living alone: Oxfam
Call to review minimum wage after study finds basic cost of living for one-member households is double the estimate of official poverty line
The government has drawn its poverty line for adults living alone at just half their actual cost of living, a leading charity says.
Oxfam Hong Kong calculated the basic monthly expenses for people living alone at HK$7,344 a month but the city's estimated poverty line for 2013 set them at HK$3,800.
"The government's poverty line has underestimated the basic need of one-person households," Oxfam director general Stephen Fisher said.
"There's a lot more people living in poverty in one-person households."
He called on the government to review the minimum wage to ensure those earning it made enough to support themselves and one other person.
Oxfam's researchers calculated the basic cost of living for one- to five-member households, taking into account the minimum requirements and prices of food, and estimated the proportion they spent on food out of their total expenses.
The basic monthly living cost for three- to five-member households matched closely with the poverty line. But the cost for adults living alone deviated by 93 per cent, elderly living alone by 21 per cent, and two-member households by 7 per cent.
