Fishing for a career
Despite all the efforts the Hong Kong SAR Government and the community have made to fight poverty over the years, many in the city still live in destitution. This suggests a lot more work needs to be done by the public and private sectors to help tackle this pressing problem.
A large number of the impoverished are single parents, the elderly and those in poor health — the disadvantaged — while the rest are mostly from the working class, who are trapped in poverty due to their low working skills or lack of marketable abilities.
For the disadvantaged groups, providing an effective social safety net is the obvious and imperative solution. The government has done a great job in this respect by extending coverage of the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme as much as possible. But the fact that many CSSA recipients still live in deprivation suggests that the program needs to be strengthened further.
In the case of the working poor, helping them to acquire marketable working skills is the only alternative. This is particularly true for young people who are struggling to find a way to make a living after failing to make it to university.
Hong Kong boasts a record low overall unemployment rate, but many youths, particularly high-school graduates from grassroots families, still find it hard to get a job. This is simply because of their lack of working skills as well as social networks. Their chances of developing a rewarding career and living a happy life will be greatly enhanced if they have the opportunity to acquire the necessary working, interpersonal and communication skills, plus social networks, before they are out of school. A chance to take up an internship in a company in the real business world will undoubtedly go a long way in helping them to develop such skills and networks.
Hong Kong’s business community has been relentlessly contributing to the fight against poverty for the sake of enhancing social harmony and overall happiness. Apart from making direct donations, they have operated numerous food banks, charity foundations and scholarship programs. They will make a far bigger contribution to the fight against poverty by offering young people more internship opportunities or practical training, as suggested by Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying in his address at this year’s Commission on Poverty Summit. Indeed, “teaching one to fish is better than giving him fish” as the proverb puts it.