Average salary of Hong Kong graduates rose last year – but least since 2021

The average annual salary of Hong Kong university graduates last year was HK$314,000 ($40,213), up 3.6% from 2022 but the smallest increase since 2021.

Graduates from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) continue to earn the most among the eight publicly funded institutions, with an average salary of HK$385,000 a year and the lowest unemployment rate at 1.2 per cent, it was revealed on Friday.

The latest figures released by the University Grants Committee (UGC), which covered 20,773 undergraduate graduates in 2023, showed that the average annual salary increased by HK$11,000, or 3.6 per cent, from HK$303,000 recorded in 2022.

However, the average annual salary of Hong Kong graduates increased by 7.8% in 2022, with growth in 2021 reaching 5.6%.

Second place in the 2023 rankings is taken by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, with its new graduates earning an average of HK$376,000.

Third place was taken by Education University of Hong Kong with an average annual salary of HK$363,000.

New graduates from Lingnan University earned the least, with an average salary of HK$238,000.

Tuen Mun University graduates also recorded the highest unemployment rate at 3.5%.

The percentage of graduates who were not seeking employment, residents who emigrated, and non-residents who returned to their home countries was 6.6 percent, the highest level since data collection began in the 2003–04 academic year.

In 2022, the rate for this category was 5.6%, compared to 6.3% a year earlier.

HKU and Chinese University are the only medical schools in the city whose graduates can expect to earn more than other students upon graduation.

UGC statistics show that medical, dental and healthcare graduates earn HK$506,000 per year, the highest among available fields.

Arts and humanities graduates earned the least at HK$269,000 per year, which was half of what healthcare graduates could earn.

Armstrong Lee Hon-cheung, managing director of recruitment agency Worldwide Consulting Group, said the results were not surprising.

Lee said the small increase in the average annual salary of graduates last year reflected the pessimistic mood in the business world.

“When employers hired college graduates, there was no significant increase in salaries, and some even reduced them slightly,” he said.

Lee added that a weak business environment is expected this year as major sectors such as retail, real estate and finance continue to struggle.

The global economy has been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, and Hong Kong is still struggling with its aftermath.

“If several major sectors that are key to driving Hong Kong’s economic growth fail to show a strong recovery, and some even decline… other sectors will not fare well either,” Lee said.

HKU reported that 2023 was the 18th consecutive year of full employment for its undergraduate graduates.

The university added that nearly 97 percent of graduates who found jobs work in Hong Kong.

The largest employer of HKU graduates was trade and industry.

University graduates were more likely to find work in social, community and personal organizations, as well as in the civil service.