Minimum wage pulls 100,000 low-paid workers into MPF net; firms to pass on costs

The minimum wage is expected to push about 100,000 workers now earning under HK$5,000 a month into MPF contributions once it takes effect mid-next year — employees will pay at least HK$250 a month, so the pay rise won’t land in full.

Why do they suddenly have to contribute?

Wages rise to about HK$6,552, breaching the HK$5,000 floor. Under current MPF rules, employees earning under HK$5,000 contribute nothing themselves; only employers pay. Census data shows over 90,000 employees earn HK$4,000–HK$4,999; at a HK$28 hourly minimum wage, working 26 days at 9 hours a day lifts them to HK$6,552 — and into self-contributions.

How are employers responding?

Raising prices to pass on costs; some plan to scrap bonuses. Employers openly plan to pass MPF and minimum-wage labour costs to customers via price hikes, replace older weaker staff with younger educated workers at clients’ request, and some will cancel bonuses. Urban Property Management, employing 3,000 guards, says 70–80% of staff already earn over HK$28 an hour but it plans to fold year-end bonuses into basic pay, insisting take-home pay won’t fall. Restaurants and cleaners already flag price rises; the government’s internal assessment puts the inflationary push at 0.4 percentage points.

To work out your post-minimum-wage MPF contributions, visit MPF fund comparison.