Introduction of Standard Working Hours: Implications for Hong Kong’s Economy

Various factions of the community especially the Marxist labour unions have been calling over the years for the implementation of the standard working hours in Hong Kong. They are of the opinion that standard working hours will better protect the rights and interests of the employees. However, there are also some sectors influenced by the ideology of Adam Smith that think otherwise and suggest that the standard working hours will undermine the flexibility of the market and thus the competitiveness of Hong Kong in the long run.

The Definition of Working Hours:

Various studies have defined working hours differently but according to one common definition, the working hours comprise of “the time during which employee is at the disposal of employer.” Some studies also incorporate breaks in the working hours but most of them do not stipulate lunch or rest breaks as working hours. In European Union, “on-call” time accounts for the working hour when the employee is required to be at the place of his duty during that “on-call” time.

Objectives of the Standard Working Hours:

According the Marxists, the implementation of the standard working hours will serve different objectives. For instance, the standard working hours will ensure occupational health and safety of the employees that is the case in Japan and European Union. Similarly, it will create more job opportunities and will allow job sharing as it is happening in South Korea. Finally, fixed working hours will ensure better compensations for overtime and establish better balance between work and life as USA and Australia have successfully experimented respectively in this regards.

The Working Hours in the Light of Marxist Philosophy:

Carl Marx says in sections ‘Wages of Labour’ and ‘Alienated Labour’ of the ‘The economical and Philosophical Manuscript’ that it is always the worker and labourer who suffers in the country running on political economy and capitalism. These workers do not have any protection in...