Business and unionist representatives expressed different views towards an increase in the city's minimum wage, with one side describing it as reasonable and the other saying it fails to catch up with price hikes.

The Minimum Wage Commission has recommended an increase of 2.3 percent, or HK$1, to the Statutory Minimum Wage starting from May 1.

Unionist lawmaker Lam Chun-sing said the increase is not enough for some workers as the calculation only takes into account the overall inflation rate.

Lam, who also chairs Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions, said workers who have to travel far for work may not be able to cover their expenses.

"Transportation cost sometimes increase by more than 3 percent to 4 percent. For those who need to travel to different district to work and with high transportation cost, they may think that this time the increase is not enough, although [the raise] considered overall inflation levels," he said.

Lam called on the government to review its calculation formula to allow grassroot workers to share the fruit from economic development rather than merely maintaining their purchasing power.

Meanwhile, Irons Sze, an employer representative of the Labour Advisory Board and permanent honorary president of the Chinese Manufacturers' Association, described the minimum wage increase as "moderate".

He said the raise would be able to balance hiring costs and livelihood needs of workers.

Danny Lau, honorary chairman of the Small and Medium Enterprises Association, said the raise is reasonable and has struck a balance between the current business environment and maintaining workers' purchasing power under inflation.