A workers’ group has on Monday urged the government to raise the minimum wage to at least HK$50 an hour, saying people on base pay are struggling to make ends meet.

Speaking at a press conference, the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong Diocesan Pastoral Centre for Workers (Kowloon) said it surveyed 144 security guards over the past two months and found that more than 30 percent of them were paid the minimum wage of HK$37.5.

Around half of the respondents, meanwhile, earned less than HK$40 per hour.

The majority of those surveyed also said they had to work for more than 10 hours a day to get by.

A security guard surnamed Chung said he could only afford one meal a day with the base pay.

“In order to save money, I usually only eat one loaf of bread for breakfast. Sometimes residents [at the building where I work] would offer me snacks when I feel hungry in the afternoon,” he said.

The centre's supervisor But Ngan-ping said instead of the current arrangement of reviewing the minimum wage level every two years, the government should do it annually.

“Only when the review will be conducted every year, the minimum wage can match the rising inflation. So I think the government should review year by year. With all the manpower and resources, I think they [the government] can do it," she said, adding that the Minimum Wage Ordinance should also prescribe that meal breaks be paid.

The Minimum Wage Commission has earlier completed its consultation exercise on the city's minimum wage level, and is due to submit its recommendation to the government by the end of October.