Hong Kong employees record the highest salary hike in GBA: study

HK fresh graduates with engineering function was the highest with $20,950.

Hong Kong’s overall actual salary increases for 80 corporations ranged from 3.6% to 4.3%, which is the highest in the Greater Bay Area, a study from Hong Kong Baptist University showed.

According to The Centre for Human Resources Strategy and Development of School of Business of Hong Kong Baptist University (CHRSD) study, this salary hike range was derived after excluding seven companies with salary freezes. 

It, however, found that the salary adjustment forecast for 2024 ranged from 3.5% to 3.8%.

As for Macao, the overall actual salary increases for the remaining 14 organisations without salary freezes ranged from 3.2% to 4%. The salary adjustment forecast for 2024 would range from 2.8% to 3.3%.

The overall actual salary increases for corporates in Guangdong cities in 2023 ranged from 2% to 2.2%. The salary adjustment forecast for 2024 would range from 2.8% to 2.9%. 

Courses and salaries

In Hong Kong, the highest starting monthly salary for Bachelor's Degree fresh graduates, were from engineering with $20,950 monthly pay.

Meanwhile, in Macao, the highest monthly salaries are for IT and engineering fresh graduates, which reported the highest monthly salaries (MOP$14,000 and MOP$13,750).  

At Guangdong Cities, starting monthly salaries for Bachelor Degree fresh graduates are the highest in the “R & D” function, at RMB6,842.

The online poll was conducted between July and September 2023, where a total of 292 completed questionnaires were received, covering around 183,000 employees from Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Guangdong Cities.