December's average wage rate grew 2.7% in nominal terms over the same month last year, the Census & Statistics Department says.

About 61% of companies recorded an increase in average wages while 27% saw falls. The remaining 12% reported no change.

After discounting the rise in consumer prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index (A), the overall average wage rate for all major sectors surveyed fell 0.7% in real terms.

The index of payroll per person engaged for all major sectors rose 5.9% in nominal terms in the fourth quarter over a year earlier.

After netting out the effect of the rise in consumer prices as measured by the Composite Consumer Price Index, the average payroll per person engaged grew 2.4% in real terms.

For the nominal wage indices, year-on-year increases were observed in all selected major sectors in December, ranging from 2% to 3.8%. For the real wage indices, there was a year-on-year increase of 0.4% in the personal services sector, while drops ranging from 0.2% to 1.4% were seen in all other sectors.

As for the nominal indices of payroll per person engaged, year-on-year rises ranging from 3.2% to 6.6% were recorded in all major sectors in the fourth quarter.