The counter-helper rate on the board at a congee shop on Apliu Street, Sham Shui Po, is HK$780 a day. The owner has been short one worker since February; the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme form she filed in March came back requesting additional documents and has not moved since. The Labour Department announced this week it is adjusting the scheme; RTHK reported the response as mixed. The adjustment adds trade categories in catering, construction, and elderly care, and shortens the stated processing window. The prevailing-wage peg, set by the Labour Advisory Board, was not changed. Employer groups called the change welcome. The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions said it would push wages down in the newly added trades.

The scheme now covers more trades. Processing times will shorten, the Labour Department says. The peg did not move. The formula by which the Labour Advisory Board sets the prevailing wage is what determines what imported workers actually cost, and what employers can offer before a local worker will take the same counter shift. Chris Sun, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, has set no date for a wage-peg review in 2026; the Board's next scheduled plenary falls in Q3. Operators who filed applications in the first half of this year will hire at a rate the Board fixed before the current food and rent cycle. The counter-helper rate on Apliu Street is HK$780.