ernest chui phd, edd(bristol) associate professor

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1 Conference on Conference on Social Inequality and Social Mobility Social Inequality and Social Mobility in Hong Kong in Hong Kong Poverty & social inclusion Poverty & social inclusion of elderly in Hong Kong of elderly in Hong Kong Ernest Chui PhD, EdD(Bristol) Ernest Chui PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor Associate Professor Department of Social Work and Social Department of Social Work and Social dministration dministration The University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong

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Conference on Social Inequality and Social Mobility in Hong Kong Poverty & social inclusion of elderly in Hong Kong. Ernest Chui PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor Department of Social Work and Social dministration The University of Hong Kong. prosperous HK, but …. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

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Conference on Conference on Social Inequality and Social Mobility Social Inequality and Social Mobility

in Hong Kongin Hong Kong    Poverty & social inclusion Poverty & social inclusion

of elderly in Hong Kongof elderly in Hong Kong  Ernest Chui PhD, EdD(Bristol)Ernest Chui PhD, EdD(Bristol)

Associate ProfessorAssociate ProfessorDepartment of Social Work and Social dministrationDepartment of Social Work and Social dministration

The University of Hong KongThe University of Hong Kong

Page 2: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

prosperous HK, but …prosperous HK, but …• Hong Kong is prosperous by world standard:

– per capita GDP (US$27,679) is 27th in the World, 4th in Asia (after Australia, Japan and Singapore, as at June 2006) (C&SD 2007, IMF 2007)

• but there is considerable extent of poverty conceived in the absolute and relative senses

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Page 3: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

Poverty in Hong KongPoverty in Hong Kong• Gini Coefficient: a measure to capture

income discrepancy in working population and thus reflecting ‘relative poverty’ in society has been increasing over the years:– 0.43 (1971)– 0.45 (1981)– 0.476 (1991)– 0.525 (2001)– 0.533 (2006)3

Page 4: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

Social exclusion Social exclusion conceptualizedconceptualized

• ‘the dynamic process of being shut out, fully or partially, from any of the social, economic, political or cultural systems which determine the social integration of a person in society. Social exclusion may, therefore, be seen as the denial (or non-realization) of the civil, political and social rights of citizenship’ (Walker & Walker, 1997:8)

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Page 5: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

Social exclusion Social exclusion conceptualizedconceptualized (2) (2)

• ‘a multi-dimensional process, in which various forms of exclusion are combined: participation in decision making and political processes, access to employment and material resources, and integration into common cultural processes. When combined, they create acute forms of exclusion that find a spatial manifestation in particular neighborhoods’ (Madanipour et al., 1998:22; cited in Byrne, 1999:2).

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Page 6: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

Social exclusion Social exclusion conceptualized conceptualized (3)(3)

• Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research, University of Bristol: 4 aspects of exclusion (Patsios, 2000):1. exclusion from having adequate income2. exclusion from labour market3. exclusion from service consumption4. exclusion from social relations

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Page 7: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

The lack of examining social exclusion The lack of examining social exclusion in local studies on povertyin local studies on poverty

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• most local researchers adopt either the ‘relative poverty’ approach or ‘income proxy’ approach in conceptualizing or measuring the magnitude of poverty, e.g. …

• Hong Kong Council of Social Service (HKCSS) Growing Seriousness in Poverty and Income Disparity study (2004) used 50% median income as benchmark: trend in overall poverty rate:

• 11.2% (1991) 18.0% (2002) trend in elderly poverty rate:

• 24.8% (1991) 32.6% (2002)

Page 8: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

Local poverty studies (2)Local poverty studies (2)• City University of Hong Kong Study of Hong

Kong Poverty Line (Wong & Li 2002) used the income proxy approach by defining the poverty line with the inflection point of the Engel curve:– set poverty line at $3,750 per person in 2002– with reference to C&SD Household

Expenditure Survey (1999/2000), estimated 449,000 households with expense per head <poverty line = 28% of the total households

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Page 9: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

Ageing populationAgeing population• proportion of elderly people in the

population aged 65+ – (1986) 7.6% – (2006) 12.4% (853,000)

• aged (60+) 16.2%

• ‘elderly dependency ratio’ (C&SD 2007): – 124 (1991) – 168 (2006)– 428 (2030)

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Page 10: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

Exclusion from Exclusion from adequate incomeadequate income

• C&SD 2004: 73% of 901,000 elderly who had stable monthly income (from various sources, including family members, work, etc.) had < half of median monthly income of the general population ($10,000) vs. median for the elderly population $3,000

• 2006 by-census: 57,500 ‘working elders’ (excluding unpaid family workers) median income $6,500 vs. $10,000 of overall working population and 41% of working elders had monthly income <$6,000 (C&SD 2008)

• HKCSS & Oxfam (1996): 87.5 % of 16,000 singletons living in ‘abject poverty’ were aged 60+

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Page 11: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

Exclusion from Exclusion from adequate incomeadequate income (2) (2)

• HKCSS Social Development Index study (2000) % of elderly people living in low-income households: 22.4% (1981) 24.8% (1991) 25.9% (1996) 33.7% (1998)

• Gini coefficient of households with a head of household aged 65+ has increased: 0.508 (1996) 0.515 (2001) 0.526 (2006) (HKCSS 2006)

• Chui, Ko & Chong 2005: 219,000 households with at least one household member aged 60+ are ‘poor elderly households’, total number of elderly persons living in poverty ~289,600

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Page 12: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

Exclusion from Exclusion from employmentemployment

job opportunities for elders due to economic restructuring high unemployment amongst elderly people

• labor force participation for people aged 65+ has remained low: 9.8% (1996) 7% (2006) (C&SD 2008)

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Page 13: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

Lack of viable Lack of viable retirement protectionretirement protection

• MPF only set up in 2000 cannot serve the present cohort of elders who have already reached 60

• low contributory rate (5% of monthly income) + short duration of contributions low protection: 45% of the elderly population will live below subsistence level in 2020 (Law 1997) elderly are worried about insufficient retirement protection (Lingnan College 1997)

• 2001 C&SD Special Topic Report No27: 83.3% of the elderly people had no form of pensions or retirement protection

• 69.9% made no arrangements for future financial needs

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Page 14: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

Reliance on welfareReliance on welfare• since 1990s in both absolute number and the

percentage of elderly population receiving CSSA

• 2007: 187,000 elderly persons living on CSSA (SWD 2007) = 16.3% of the aged (60 or more) population

• 71,500 elderly people aged 65+ (8.2%) relied on means-tested normal Old Age Allowance as major source of income

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Page 15: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

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Table 1: increase of elderly (60+) receiving social security assistance 1991-2006

1991 1996 2001 2006

Elderly receiving social security 48,000 98,800 139,300 187,000

Elderly population 711,000 891,000 1,013,000 1,099,000

Percentage 6.8 11.1 13.8 17.0

Source: Hong Kong Social Security Society (1998) Poverty Watch No.4, June 98; Hong

Kong Government Census & Statistics Dept Webpage; Social Welfare Department webpage

(various years)

Page 16: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

inadequate income inadequate income reliance on public housing reliance on public housing

• 2006: 407,000 elderly (aged 60+) living in Public Rental Housing (PRH) = 20.4% of the total 1,996,000 PRH tenants, or 38% of HK total elderly population

• 58,800 singleton tenants = 46.5% of Hong Kong’s 126,600 singleton elderly population

• 37,500 non-singleton elderly households residing in PRH = 76,000 elderly people who were largely elderly couples living on their own

• ~7,900 elderly applicants on waiting list

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Page 17: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

Poor living condition Poor living condition in private housing in old urban districtsin private housing in old urban districts

• low elderly home ownership rate 17% (as at 2001; C&SD 2004) vs. 53% of general public (Ramesh 2004)

• those who cannot afford to own private housing have to rent rooms, bed-spaces or cocklofts in private tenements in old urban areas poor living conditions

• Commission on Poverty (2006) 2.8% (~30,000) of the elderly population lived in private temporary housing or private shared units i.e. deprived of independent & private living space

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Page 18: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

Spatial exclusion resulted from urban Spatial exclusion resulted from urban renewal and gentrificationrenewal and gentrification

• urban renewal of old urban districts gentrification physical & social dislocation

• elders are physically, psychologically and socially ‘bound’ by the locality in which they live and they derive their sense of familiarity and security from it

• if elders are deprived of environmental resources ‘misfit’ and ‘strain’

jeopardize their ‘perceived’ and ‘exerted’ independence threaten their sense of security: physical safety and ‘peace of mind’

• local studies have vividly portrayed these problems e.g. Wanchai District Board 1999; HKYWCA 1998; SoCO 2002)

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Page 19: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

Poverty & deteriorating healthPoverty & deteriorating health aggravating social exclusion aggravating social exclusion

• 2006: average life expectancy 85.1 years• poor general health (both physical and mental)• ~106,700 elderly had various degrees of cognitive

impairment, especially serious amongst the 75+ group (C&SD 2001)

• high incidence of chronic illness: 72% have =/>1 chronic diseases (including 56% hypertension, 35% rheumatism, 42% frequent medical consultations (C&SD 2004)

• 64,000 elderly people had difficulty in activities of daily living (C&SD 2004)

social participation exclusion

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Page 20: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

Normative exclusion and ageismNormative exclusion and ageism

• in capitalistic, materialistic HK, people in general have put slanted emphasis on immediate economic rewards elders are perceived to be ‘economically

unproductive’ (Phillipson 1982)• Changing family structure & function

less respect & care to elders in family less attend to the needs of the older generation

• gradual ageism i.e. attitude that despises older people

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Page 21: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

Self disempowerment & Self disempowerment & exclusion of eldersexclusion of elders

• a vicious cycle of self-denial and disempowerment in elders depression, withdrawal or even self-destructive inclination

• e.g. depression particularly prevalent among institutionalized elderly people: 38% (Hospital Authority, 2005)

• high elderly suicide rate: (1981-95) 31.1 and (2006) 28.2 per 100,000 (age 60+), 53.0 (age 75+) (Chi, Yip and Yu, 1998) vs. 12.1 for the overall population (HKCSS 2007)

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Page 22: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

recommendationsrecommendations• The government may consider tapping upon the

substantial financial reserves to finance some immediate measures to provide the material base for enabling the elders to enjoy social inclusion by the community at large

• This can avoid resorting to a radical revision of the low tax system and thus preserving a favorable business environment

• These stop gap measures are expected to be temporary as the future cohort of elders are better prepared in having gradually maturing existing / upcoming contributory schemes, and are having growing awareness of better preparation for retirement

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Page 23: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

• Careful gentrification• Promotion respect for the elderly• Service to improve health condition

of elderly people

Page 24: Ernest Chui   PhD, EdD(Bristol) Associate Professor

Acknowledgement:Acknowledgement:The paper is based partly on Poverty and

social exclusion of elderly in Hong Kong (2007) (HKU7407/06H) funded by the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong and on a consultancy project. I acknowledge with thanks the client's permission to cite from the report of the consultancy study

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