Hong Kong (DPA) - Legislators in Hong Kong were Wednesday seeking a US$ 5,000 a month pay rise to put their salaries on a par with business professionals in the wealthy former British colony.
The city's 60 lawmakers currently receive monthly pay packets of US$ 7,000 but say their salaries are too low to encourage talented young people to enter politics.
Instead, they argue the relatively low pay packets make politics a rich man's indulgence in a city where top business professionals command salaries of US$ 13,000 a month upwards.
A committee of legislators has now recommended that their monthly pay be raised by US$ 4,930 a month to US$ 11,938 to put it on a par with politicians in the US, UK and Canada.
They are also arguing for a 20 per cent increase in expenses allowances to cope with the rising costs of running constituency offices in the city of 6.8 million people.
Although salaries for professionals have risen sharply in the past three years, average pay packets in the city which has no minimum wage are only around US$ 1,400 a month.
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