Study stats: Commissioner for Census & Statistics Fung Hing-wang briefs the media on the household income study.

A Census & Statistics Department study has found that households with monthly income below $4,000 rose from 6.7% in 1996 to 9.2% last year, while those with income of $40,000 or more grew from 15% to 17%.

One of the reasons for the rise in the former was the increasing number of older-person households. The increase in the latter was mainly associated with the growth of two-earner households and improvement in the educational attainment of the population.

The study, released today, found that the median monthly income from main employment of the working population rose 5.3% from $9,500 in 1996 to $10,000 last year. In real terms there was a rise in the median income from $9,348 to $10,000.

The distribution of income from main employment by decile group indicated that there was a fall in the share of income attributed to lower decile groups, and a rise in the share to higher ones.

The increased dispersion in the distribution of employment income from 1996 to 2006 was associated with changes in the demographics of the population and the structure of the economy over the period, including the income differentials due to gender, lifecycle and education.

Gini coefficients

Gini coefficients are compiled to examine the extent of dispersion in the employment income distribution. It is noted that the Gini coefficient grew from 0.483 in 1996 to 0.500 in 2006, indicating a widening gap in employment income.

When further analysed by subgroups of the working population, the Gini coefficients for people working in manufacturing, as clerks and elementary workers, and workers with lower education, were below the overall figure. However, the Gini coefficients for people working in the finance and service sectors, people engaged as managers and administrators and people of higher education were above the overall figure.

As there has been a continuous shift of the workforce to these categories in the past decade, the overall Gini coefficients for the workforce rose.

The trend of household income was different from that of employment income among individuals. Between 1996 and 2006, the median monthly household income fell from $17,500 to $17,250. In real terms, the median monthly household income in 1996 and 2006 were broadly stable at $17,220 and $17,250.

Income disparity

Commissioner for Census & Statistics Fung Hing-wang said Hong Kong is an open city economy with a strong agglomeration of service sector activities that are highly developed and well diversified, employing workers with multifarious experience and skills.

"Given this nature, income disparity in Hong Kong tends to be greater than in those places with a preponderance of manufacturing and agricultural activities. Moreover, there is a common trend towards greater income disparity in many economies. Hong Kong is not unique in moving in this direction," he said.