The Society for Community Organisation (SoCO) on Monday called on the government to raise the minimum wage by at least 33 percent to HK$50 or more per hour.

The grassroots organisation said workers earning the current minimum wage level of HK$37.5 an hour – first set in 2019 and frozen in a review in 2021 – are unable to make ends meet.

The body said it arrived at its recommendation after considering data on the monthly income of one-person households and the fact that the statutory minimum wage has failed to catch up with the rate at which commodity prices have increased.

It said people paid the statutory minimum earn around HK$7,800 a month - half the amount of the median expenditure of one-person households, according to a government survey done in 2019-2020.

SoCO added that the minimum wage level should be reviewed annually instead of every two years, and projected changes in consumer prices in the near future should also be taken into account.

It said an objective and scientific mechanism should be set up to calculate the minimum wage.

The Minimum Wage Commission has started a consultation exercise on the issue, and is due to submit its recommendation to the government by the end of October.