Hong Kong: Women Outweigh Men In Population Size But Lower Labour Participation Rate

The Census & Statistics Department (C&SD) published a report titled Women & Men in Hong Kong – Key Statistics (2023 Edition). It draws together gender-disaggregated statistics and indicators from a wide variety of sources with a view to show the situation of women and men in major economic and social spheres. 

Key statistics are as follows: 

	Female	Male
Year-end population in 2022	4,062,800	3,409,800
Labour force in 2022	1,890,300	1,886,000
Labour force participation rate in 2022	52.9%	64,7%
Number of employed person in 2022	1,823,700	1,7,89,500
Underemployment rate in 2022	1.9%	2,8%
Unemployment rate in 2022	3.5%	5.1%
Median monthly employment earnings (HK$)	15,300	21,000

When compared to 2021, the female and male labour force in 2022 decreased by 2.9% and 1.9% respectively. The overall labour force participation rate also plummeted with females showing 54.2% and males with 65.8% in 2021. Analysed by age group, the labour force participation rate was lower for women than for men in each age category except for those aged 15-25, in 2022. 

Among employed people, the median monthly employment earning of females rose from $15,000 in 2021 to $15,300 in 2022 while males as well increased from $20,000 in 2021 to 21,000 in 2022. Analysed by occupation, the yearly growth in the median monthly employment earnings of plant and machine operators and assemblers was the highest for both sexes, increasing by 15.4% and 9.4% for women and men respectively. 

The numbers for economically inactive women and men (or the non-labour force) were 1,682,300 and 1,028,500 in 2022. retirement/old age was the most common reason for being economically inactive (45.3% of all economically inactive women while male is at 63.9%). Meanwhile, the second most common reason for women was because of household duties (35.2%) and for men was attending education institutions (19.2%). 

Related link: Underemployment & Unemployment Rate for Q2 2023

At the end of 2022, there were around 173,664 government servants, of which 67,231 were women and 106,433 were men. Female and male directorate officers rose from 555 and 819, in mid-2021 to 572 and 820 in mid-2022, respectively. Female directorate officers increased slightly from 40.4% in mid-2021 to 41.1% in mid-2022, while men fell slightly from 59.6% in mid-2021 to 58.9% in mid-2022. 

Non-official members of advisory and statutory bodies serving the public sector increased from 1,835 in 2021 to 1,844 in 2022, while the number of men fell from 4,022 to 3,942 in the same year.

In terms of education, 65.8% of women had completed upper secondary education or above by 2022, compared to 69.5% of men. 37.% of men and 32.0% of women had post-secondary education experience, respectively.