The average Hong Kong employee took home a little more salary in the first quarter, according to Census & Statistics Department figures. Its index of payroll per person engaged for all the major sectors rose 4.4% in nominal terms in the first quarter of 2005 over a year earlier.

After netting out the effect of the increase in consumer prices, average payroll per employee rose 4% in real terms.

The department said the year-on-year increase in the labour earnings was due to the increases in the regular payroll and the amount of guaranteed year-end-bonus issued as compared with those in the first quarter of 2004.

Average wage rate up 0.7%

The average wage rate for all major sectors rose by 0.7% in nominal terms in March over a year earlier. 

About 47% of the companies recorded some increase in average wage rates in March. This was due to the increase in the wage level for some employees, as well as the retrenchment of lower-paid clerical and support staff, leading to a rise in the proportion of relatively higher-paid workers.

About 40% of the companies recorded some decrease in average wage rates over the period. The remaining 13% reported almost no change in average wage rates.

After discounting the increase in consumer prices, the overall average wage rate for all major sectors dropped 0.5% in real terms in March.

Nominal wage indices rose in almost all sectors

The nominal wage indices increased in almost all the major sectors in March, ranging from 0.7% to 2.1%.

The financing, insurance, real estate and business services sector was the only sector with a drop in nominal wages - of 1.9%. This was mainly due to the downward adjustment in salaries of employees in security and detective services.

For the real wage indices, year-on-year increases were recorded in manufacturing, the wholesale, retail and import/export trades, restaurants and hotels and personal services in March, ranging from 0.1% to 0.9%.