Let's do the sum at the counter. The minimum wage for foreign domestic helpers is now HK$5,220 a month. That is a rise of 2.35 per cent.

Work it backwards and the old figure was around HK$5,100. So the raise is about HK$120 a month. That is roughly HK$4 a day.

HK$4 a day. You can't buy a bottle of water in Central for that. Maybe a bun at the wet market, if you get there early and the auntie likes you.

The food allowance stays where it was. No change at all. So the helper gets the HK$120, and the food money has to stretch like it did last year.

Now the government's reason. The labour minister says Hong Kong's economy has done better over the past year, so the wage goes up. Fine. Here is the part that makes me smile. If the economy did well, you would expect a bigger number. If it did only a little well, you would expect a smaller one. 2.35 per cent is the number in the middle that everyone can grumble about equally.

And they are grumbling. SCMP reports the labour chief had to defend the rise amid criticism.

Look, I get that it is hard to please everybody. But these are the people who cook the dinner, pick up the kids and mop the floor while the rest of us are at work. Plenty of families in my street would fall apart without one. HK$4 a day is a rounding error.