Editing Working time (section)

=====Academics=====
Yip Siu-fai, Professor of the Department of Social Work and Social Administration of [[HKU]], has noted that professions such as nursing and accountancy have long working hours and that this may affect people's social life. He believes that standard working hours could help to give Hong Kong more family-friendly workplaces and to increase fertility rates. Randy Chiu, Professor of the Department of Management of [[HKBU]], has said that introducing standard working hours could avoid excessively long working hours of employees.<ref>[http://www.hket.com/eti/article/46c86e63-2be2-43f2-abdd-ab3d16735d46-609976?cgs=&source=print&printable=true {{in lang|zh}} 標準工時雖動聽 政治現實恐難容] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130526153713/http://www.hket.com/eti/article/46c86e63-2be2-43f2-abdd-ab3d16735d46-609976?cgs=&source=print&printable=true |date= 2013-05-26 }} HKET, 2012-02-27</ref> He also said that nowadays Hong Kong attains almost full employment, has a high rental price and severe inflation, recently implemented minimum wage, and is affected by a gloomy global economy; he also mentioned that comprehensive considerations on macroeconomic situations are needed, and emphasized that it is perhaps inappropriate to adopt working-time regulation as exemplified in other countries to Hong Kong.<ref>{{YouTube|A09eFz59Sq0|城市論壇 標準工時徵建議 勞資官民齊集思}} {{in lang|zh}}</ref>

Lee Shu-Kam, Associate Professor of the Department of Economics and Finance of [[HKSYU]], believes that standard working hours cannot deliver "work–life balance". He referenced the research{{which|date=October 2018}} to the US by the University of California, Los Angeles in 1999 and pointed out that in the industries and regions in which the wage elasticity is low, the effects of standard working hours on lowering actual working time and increasing wages is limited: for regions where the labor supply is inadequate, standard working hours can protect employees' benefits yet cause unemployment; but for regions (such as Japan) where the problem does not exist, standard working hours would only lead to unemployment.<ref name="skbook">Lee, S.K. et al. 2012. Standard Working Hours or Flexible Working Hours – Policy alternatives to facilitate Work–Life Balance, Hong Kong: Ovis Press.</ref>

Francis Lui, Head and Professor of the Department of Economics of [[Hong Kong University of Science and Technology]], believed that standard working hours may not lower work time but increase unemployment. He used Japan as an example to illustrate that the implementation of standard working hours lowered productivity per head and demotivated the economy. He also said that even if the standard working hours can shorten employees' weekly working hours, they may need to work for more years to earn sufficient amount of money for [[retirement]], i.e. delay their retirement age. The total working time over the course of a lifetime may not change.<ref name="luiact">[http://francis-lui.blogspot.hk/2010/12/blog-post_2373.html {{in lang|zh}}「標準工時」會否僵化勞動市場？] 雷鼎鳴，2010-12-08</ref>

In 2012, Lok-sang Ho, Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for Public Policy Studies of [[Lingnan University (Hong Kong)|Lingnan University]], pointed out that "as different employees perform various jobs and under different degrees of pressures, it may not be appropriate to establish standard working hours in Hong Kong"; and he proposed a 50-hour maximum work week to protect workers' health.<ref>
[http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2012-11/20/content_15944513.htm Business / Opinion Setting maximum work hours first]. ''China Daily'', 2012-11-20.
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