Name: Yim Wai-lam

We must plug the poverty gap

HONG Kong's economic boom is not protecting Hong Kongers from poverty. Instead, we have a wider poverty gap.

Of course, affluent families can be easily found in Mid-Levels, but there are still too many people living below the poverty line.

Narrowing the poverty gap should be one of the important issues in the coming policy address. In this high-tech era, it is a serious problem that unskilled workers may not be able to get a job. Most of the factories have moved to China due to the lower costs there.

The Government should run some retraining courses so that they can learn basic computer skills and find jobs more easily, and we need to ensure that the courses are practical enough, not just a temporary shelter for the employees.

It is vital to have up-to-date skills training, otherwise the problems will recur once the courses are completed.

We must strive to have a better future for Hong Kong.