Grassroots lawmaker Ho Ion Sang has urged the government to come up with measures to reduce the impact of the increasing inequality of residents’ income.
Ho, one of 14 vice-chairmen of the Macau General Union of Neighbourhood Associations, makes the appeal in a written interpellation submitted to the Legislative Assembly (AL) on Monday.
Ho, who is senior staff member of the local branch of the Bank of China (BOC), says in the interpellation that since the 1999 establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) the inequality of residents’ income has grown further apart.
Ho points out in the interpellation that according to official figures released last year the median monthly income stood at 15,000 patacas, a 12.78 per cent increase year-on-year.
Out of a workforce of 390,000, about 200,000 earn less than 15,000 patacas a month, Ho says.
He also says that the official figures on household incomes released in 2012/2013 showed that the difference between the highest income households and the lowest ones was sevenfold.
The lawmaker says if the city’s income inequality continues to grow it will impact economic growth. He also asks in his interpellation whether the government will come up with new measures to assist low-income families.
(Macau News / The Macau Post Daily)
