Hong Kong saw the highest income growth among the Greater Bay Area (GBA) cities from July 2022 to June 2023, with an average real salary rise ranging from 3.2% to 3.8%. The opportunities for job progression, compensation, and emigration has allowed the city to experience a high turnover rate.
According to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Pay and Benefits Survey 2023 by the Centre for Human Resources Strategy and Development (CHRSD) at the HKBU School of Business, the anticipated wage rise for 2024 would range from 3.5% to 3.8%.
112,020 workers from 184 companies in the Guangdong cities reported an overall actual compensation increase in 2023 ranging from 2% to 2.2%. The expected pay increase for 2024 will remain within the range of 2.8% to 2.9%.
Dr. Felix Yip who is the Associate Director of the Centre for Human Resources Strategy and Development (CHRSD), he believes that Hong Kong’s current unemployment rate is very low at 2.8%. Therefore, it supports a relatively high pay increase and people will be easily drawn to change jobs or industries.” Although mainland cities have historically seen bigger average salary increases than Hong Kong has, this year is shaping up to be a tipping point due to rising labour and living costs.
Prof. Xu Huang, Director of CHRSD and Associate Dean of the Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) School of Business, addressed Hong Kong’s difficulty in luring talent inside the GBA and emphasised the city’s high labour expenses in comparison to adjacent Shenzhen. Therefore, if Hong Kong is experiencing a talent shortage despite having high labour expenses, it shows that Hong Kong enterprises are very competitive and robust, according to Xu.
