A container barge sails in the Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong, south China, April 30, 2023. (PHOTO / XINHUA )

The gross pay trend indicators of Hong Kong’s private company employees at lower, middle and upper salary bands were 3.91, 5.66, 5.68 percent respectively over the past 12 months, according to the tentative findings of the 2023 Pay Trend Survey that was released on Wednesday.

Laurence Li, chairman of the Pay Trend Survey Committee, said that this year's survey collected data of about 137,000 employees from 108 companies on their pay trends from April 2, 2022 to April 1, 2023.

READ MORESurvey: HK employees' salaries seen rising 1.7% in 2022

The companies are representative and recognized as good employers in Hong Kong and the survey also covered the average pay changes in basic salaries and bonuses of full-time employees in Hong Kong, Li said.

The annual pay trend survey, which has been conducted for nearly 30 years, is also regarded as a key reference for pay adjustments for civil servants

Permanent Secretary for the Civil Service Clement Leung said after deducting the civil service payroll cost of increments from the respective gross pay trend indicators, the net pay trend indicators for the upper, middle and lower salary bands for this year are 2.87 percent, 4.65 percent and 4.5 percent respectively.

Li noted that the survey results can reflect the salary levels of different levels of jobs in different industries. The goal of implementing the salary survey is to maintain the competitiveness of the salary system and create a good working environment for everyone through other supporting facilities.

The annual pay trend survey, which has been conducted for nearly 30 years, is also regarded as a key reference for pay adjustments for civil servants.

Both Leung and Li emphasized, however, that the indicator of salary trends cannot forecast future salary adjustments in the private sector or play a decisive role in the government's salary increase proposals.

According to Leung, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu and the Executive Council will take into account six factors when deciding the annual civil service salary adjustment, namely Hong Kong's economic situation, changes in living expenses, the government's financial situation, employees' demands for salary adjustment, civil servants' morale and net indicators of salary trends. 

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Members of the Pay Trend Survey Committee are now studying the survey results in detail and will meet next Wednesday to further examine and confirm the results before submitting them to the government.

Contact the writer at mikegu@chinadailyhk.com