最新數據表明香港貧富差距進一步擴大
The city's wealth gap now outstrips that of Singapore, the United Kingdom and Australia as well as other major cities notorious for inequality such as Washington and New York City, says the Hong Kong's Census and Statistics Department. In 2011, the city's Gini coefficient-an index from 0 to 1 that measures the wealth gap-rose to 0.537, up from 0.525 in 2001. It's a figure that exceeds various estimates even of inequality across the border in mainland China.
香港政府統計處(Census and Statistics Department)表示，香港目前的貧富差距水平已經超過了新加坡、英國和澳大利亞，甚至超過了其他因貧富差距大而聞名的城市，如華盛頓和紐約。2011年，香港的基尼係數上升到了0.537，而2001年的水平爲0.525。基尼係數是衡量居民之間貧富差距的一個指標，取值區間爲從0到1。2011年香港的基尼係數水平甚至超過了中國內地貧富差距水平的各種估計數據。This latest figure comes as the city's leader, career civil servant Donald Tsang, prepares to step down after seven years in office that critics say were hamstrung by inertia and lack of action to help the poor. Mr. Tsang-who also faces a flurry of public outrage over his use of taxpayer money to fund lavish overseas trips-will leave office on June 30. His successor, Leung Chun-ying, has pledged to do more for Hong Kong's poorest, including restarting the city's poverty commission, which was disbanded under Mr. Tsang in 2007.
最新的數據出爐之際，正值香港特首、職業公務員曾蔭權在任職七年之後離任的前夕。批評人士說，由於在幫助窮人方面反應遲鈍、缺乏切實行動，曾蔭權在任期間可以說是碌碌無爲。曾蔭權同時還面臨着香港公衆因其使用納稅人的錢進行豪華公務旅行而爆發的憤怒。曾蔭權將於6月30日卸任。他的繼任者樑振英承諾爲香港最貧困的羣體做更多事，比如重新設立扶貧委員會等。2007年曾蔭權任職期間，扶貧委員會遭解散。"As front-line social workers, we see life has become more difficult [under Mr. Tsang]," says Christine Fang, who leads the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, citing exorbitant housing prices and rising inflation. "Their livelihood has worsened while they see that society has prospered," she says of Hong Kong's poor. "That's why we can sense the antagonism between those who have and those who have not."
香港社會服務聯會(Hong Kong Council of Social Service)行政總裁方敏生說，作爲一線社會服務工作者，我們發現，曾蔭權執政期間民生更加艱難。她舉出了高房價和通脹日益嚴重過的例子。她在提到香港窮人時說，他們在看到社會繁榮的同時，卻發現自己的生計更加艱難，這就是爲什麼我們可以感受到富人和窮人之間的對立情緒。
Thousands people living in Hong Kong's notorious "cage homes," which in some cases measure just a handful of square feet, are some of the more searing images associated with the city's poverty. But the middle class has also been squeezed, analysts say, as housing prices have surpassed even the levels seen during the city's 1997 recent years, as travel restrictions for mainland Chinese have loosened, rows of swanky storefronts catering to such tourists have cropped up across the city, including glittering temples to luxury handbags and jewelry, spurring resentment among Hong Kongers who feel they've been left out of the city's economic boom.
大量香港人住在聲名狼藉的“籠屋”中。籠屋是這個城市中與貧窮有關的最刺眼的景象，有的籠屋面積甚至僅有幾平方英尺。但是分析人士說，由於香港目前的房價甚至超過了1997年泡沫時期的水平，中產階級同樣感受到了壓力。最近幾年，由於政府放鬆了對中國內地赴港旅遊的限制，香港到處都是爲滿足這些蜂擁至香港的內地遊客需求而開設的出售奢侈手袋和珠寶的奢華店面，這讓香港人憤怒不已，它們感到自己成了香港經濟繁榮的看客。Today, Hong Kong's median home price is 12.6 times the annual median household income, according to research group Demographia. By contrast, that figure is 5.1 in the United Kingdom and just 3.0 in the U.S.
研究機構Demographia的數據顯示，如今，香港房價中值是香港人年收入中值的12.6倍。相比之下，英國的這一比例爲5.1，美國爲3.0。The government was quick this week to downplay the latest evidence of the widening wealth gap, noting that after factoring in social benefits and taxes, the city's Gini coefficient was 0.475, a figure unchanged from 2006. It also cited demographic factors as an explanation for the rise in income disparity, noting that as the population has aged, the number of households without active income has increased.
香港政府本週很快對數據做出反應，強調錶明貧富差距加大的最新證據其實並沒有那麼重要。港府指出，如果計入社會福利和稅收等因素，香港的基尼係數爲0.475，與2006年持平。港府還用人口因素解釋了收入差距的上升，指出由於人口老齡化，沒有活動收入的家庭數量有所增加。In explaining Hong Kong's entrenched wealth gap, analysts cite the economy's overwhelming reliance on the services sector, particularly finance, which has created wealth for some but failed to provide significant numbers of well-paying jobs across the board. While income grew 60% among the city's top 10% of earners between 2001-2010, it dropped by 20% among those in the bottom 10%.
在解釋香港嚴重的貧富差距問題時，分析人士指出，香港經濟運轉主要依靠服務業，特別是金融業，這些領域爲一些人創造了財富，但是從整體來看沒有提供大量薪水豐厚的職位。從2001到2010年間，香港薪酬最高10%人羣的收入增長了60%，而薪酬最低10%人羣的收入則下降了20%。
