Wage and payroll statistics for December 2025
Overall Wage and Payroll Statistics
According to the figures released today (March 27) by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), the average wage rate for all the selected industry sections surveyed, as measured by the wage index, increased by 3.4% in nominal terms in December 2025 over a year earlier.
About 62% of the companies reported increase in average wage rates in December 2025 compared with a year ago. A total of 33% of the companies recorded decrease in average wage rates over the same period. The remaining 5% reported virtually no change in average wage rates.
After discounting the changes in consumer prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index (A), the overall average wage rate for all the selected industry sections surveyed increased by 1.9% in real terms in December 2025 over a year earlier.
As for payroll, the index of payroll per person engaged for all the industry sections surveyed increased by 3.2% in nominal terms in the fourth quarter of 2025 over a year earlier.
After discounting the changes in consumer prices as measured by the Composite Consumer Price Index, the average payroll per person engaged increased by 1.9% in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2025 compared with a year earlier.
The wage rate includes basic wages and other regular and guaranteed allowances and bonuses. Payroll includes elements covered by wage rate as well as other irregular payments to workers such as discretionary bonuses and overtime allowances. The payroll statistics therefore tend to show relatively larger quarter-to-quarter changes, affected by the number of hours actually worked and the timing of payment of bonuses and back-pay.
Sectoral Changes
For the nominal wage indices, year-on-year increases were recorded in all selected industry sections in December 2025, ranging from 2.9% to 3.9%.
For the real wage indices, year-on-year increases were also recorded in all selected industry sections in December 2025, ranging from 1.4% to 2.3%.
The year-on-year changes in the nominal and real wage indices for the selected industry sections from December 2024 to December 2025 are shown in Table 1.
As for the nominal indices of payroll per person engaged, year-on-year increases were recorded in all selected industry sections in the fourth quarter of 2025, ranging from 2.2% to 4.8%.
For the real payroll indices, year-on-year increases were also recorded in all selected industry sections in the fourth quarter of 2025, ranging from 0.9% to 3.5%.
The year-on-year changes in the nominal and real indices of payroll per person engaged for selected industry sections from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the fourth quarter of 2025 are shown in Table 2. The quarterly changes in the seasonally adjusted nominal and real indices of payroll per person engaged in the same period are shown in Table 3.
Commentary
A Government spokesman said that wages and labour earnings continued to increase in both nominal and real terms in the fourth quarter of 2025 over a year earlier. Average wage rate and payroll per person engaged of all selected industries recorded increases of varying degrees.
Looking ahead, the sustained growth momentum of the Hong Kong economy should continue to support labour demand, thereby boosting wages and labour earnings. Yet, the Government will remain vigilant and monitor the situation closely in view of the various external uncertainties facing the economy.
Other information
Both wage indices and payroll indices are compiled quarterly based on the results of the Labour Earnings Survey (LES) conducted by the C&SD. Wage index only covers employees up to the supervisory level (i.e. not including managerial and professional employees), whereas payroll index covers employees at all levels and proprietors actively engaged in the work of the establishment.
Apart from the differences in employee coverage, wage statistics are conceptually different from the payroll statistics. Firstly, wage rate for an employee refers to the sum earned for his normal hours of work. It covers basic wages and other regular and guaranteed allowances and bonuses, but excludes earnings from overtime work and discretionary bonuses, which are however included in payroll per person engaged. Secondly, the payroll index of an industry is an indicator of the simple average payroll received per person engaged in the industry. Its movement is therefore affected by changes in wage rates, number of hours of work and occupational composition in the industry. In contrast, the wage index of an industry is devised to reflect the pure changes in wage rate, with the occupational composition between two successive statistical periods being kept unchanged. In other words, the wage index reflects the change in the price of labour. Because of these conceptual and enumeration differences between payroll and wage statistics, the movements in payroll indices and in wage indices do not necessarily match closely with each other.
It should also be noted that different consumer price indices are used for compiling the real indices of wage and payroll to take into account the differences in their respective occupation coverage. Specifically, the Composite Consumer Price Index, being an indicator of overall consumer prices, is taken as the price deflator for payroll of workers at all levels of the occupational hierarchy. The Consumer Price Index (A), being an indicator of consumer prices for the relatively low expenditure group, is taken as the price deflator for wages in respect of employees engaged in occupations up to the supervisory level.
Detailed breakdowns of the payroll and wage statistics are published in the "Quarterly Report of Wage and Payroll Statistics, December 2025". Users can browse and download the publication at the website of theC&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/en/EIndexbySubject.html?pcode=B1050009&scode=210).
For enquiries on wage and payroll statistics, please contact the Wages and Labour Costs Statistics Section (1) of the C&SD (Tel: 2887 5550 or email: wage@censtatd.gov.hk).
The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), Photo source: reference image
USITI attends ZGC Forum Annual Conference activities in Beijing
The Under Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Ms Lillian Cheong, addressed the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Science and Technology Innovation Forum of the Zhongguancun (ZGC) Forum Annual Conference in Beijing today (March 27) and explored new opportunities for Beijing, Hong Kong and Macao to promote synergistic scientific and technological self-reliance and high-quality industrial development with AI at the core, with government representatives, local and overseas experts, scholars and corporate representatives from different places.
Ms Cheong pointed out that the National 15th Five-Year Plan clearly identified AI as the core engine to drive industrial transformation and cultivate new quality productive forces. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area are both crucial engines of national innovation and development, with complementary advantages and broad collaborative spaces. As the country's important international innovation and technology (I&T) centre, Hong Kong plays the role of a bridge connecting the Mainland and the world, and is committed to using AI to drive new industrialisation, shaping new quality productive forces as well as assisting the country in building a modernised industrial system and enhancing its voice and influence in global AI development.
She said that Hong Kong is systematically promoting the AI full-chain strategy, including the establishment of the Committee on AI+ and Industry Development Strategy, launching the Hong Kong Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Institute, building the Sandy Ridge Data Facility Cluster into a leading Asia-Pacific computing hub, and strengthening support for scientific research, computing power, capital, and talent through the $10 billion I&T Industry-Oriented Fund and the $3 billion AI Subsidy Scheme, while building a secure and reliable AI governance framework. Hong Kong will leverage its advantages of connecting with international standards, international data interoperability, global financing, and transformation of research, academic and industry outcomes, and work with with Beijing and Macao to create a new AI innovation ecosystem to jointly promote breakthroughs in frontier fields. These fields include embodied intelligence, industrial intelligence, and on-device AI. Hong Kong will also support the global launch of outstanding technologies and products in the city and ride on platforms such as InnoHK research clusters and the Hong Kong Artificial Intelligence Research and Development Institute to expand into international markets.
Ms Cheong arrived in Beijing to begin her duty visit on March 24. She attended the Opening Ceremony of ZGC Forum Annual Conference the following day (March 25). The ZGC Forum is a state-level platform for global science and technology (sci-tech) innovation exchanges and co-operation, focusing on international cutting-edge and topical sci-tech issues. The forum invites top-notch scientists, leading enterpreneurs from local and overseas to participate.
During her visit to Beijing, Ms Cheong visited a number of leading semiconductor and AI chip enterprises including Beijing SemiDrive Technology Corporation, Beijing Yandong Microelectronics Co, Ltd and GigaDevice Semiconductor Inc, and held discussions with representatives including Tashan Technology to learn about the frontier research and development (R&D) and industry applications in semiconductors, automotive grade chips, and computing chips. She said that HongKong is actively advancing its development in the microelectronics area, with two pilot lines at the Microelectronics Centre in YuenLong set to commence operations this year to support the "1 to N" transformation of R&D outcomes and industrialisation to further develop Yuen Long into a microelectronics industrial park. Meanwhile, the Government is dedicated to collaborating with enterprises that have already completed dual listings on the "A+H" platforms, such as GigaDevice, and encourage them to establish R&D, pilot production and headquarters in Hong Kong, matching the pilot production platforms, international capital and global networks of Hong Kong to foster industry clustering effects.
Additionally, Ms Cheong visited leading embodied intelligence enterprises including Beijing Inspire Robots Technology Co Ltd, and Galbot Co Ltd, and held discussions with representatives including Galaxea AI, Mech-Mind and Yunji Technology to learn about technological breakthroughs in core robotic components on the Mainland,cutting-edge embodied intelligence, latest development of embodied intelligence basic models and the wide-ranging application scenarios in automated production and smart living of embodied intelligence.She stated that embodied intelligence is an important direction for AI industrialisation. With its strengths in basic research, international recognition, marketised application and standards alignment, Hong Kong is well positioned to help Mainland enterprises develop into an international embodied intelligence accelerator by providing one-stop support in international validation, a showcase window for international technology, thereby expediting their technologies towards the global markets.
Ms Cheong visited the Xiong'an New Area yesterday (March 26) and toured the technology park and development pavilion in the Area. She also met with leaders of the Xiong'an New Area Management Committee, where both sides exchanged views on the development of the Xiong'an New Area and Hong Kong including I&T, regional planning, digital construction and industry planning.
Ms Cheong visited the Center for International Economic and Technological Cooperation of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China this morning and met with the relevant officials to exchange views on topics such as international industry co-operation, fostering synergy in various industries, making good use of Hong Kong as a platform for improving quality and upgrading.
Ms Cheong concluded her visit and will return to Hong Kong this evening.
The Under Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Ms Lillian Cheong (third left), visited a number of leading semiconductor and AI chip enterprises in Beijing. Photo shows Ms Cheong meeting representatives of Beijing Inspire Robots Technology Co Ltd yesterday (March 26). Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
The Under Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Ms Lillian Cheong (second left), visited a number of leading semiconductor and AI chip enterprises in Beijing. Photo shows Ms Cheong touring Galbot Co Ltd yesterday (March 26). Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
The Under Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Ms Lillian Cheong (second left), visited a number of leading semiconductor and AI chip enterprises in Beijing. Photo shows Ms Cheong touring Beijing Yandong Microelectronics Co, Ltd on March 25. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
The Under Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Ms Lillian Cheong (fifth left), visited the Xiong'an New Area in Beijing yesterday (March 26). Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
The Under Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Ms Lillian Cheong (fourth right), visited a number of leading semiconductor and AI chip enterprises in Beijing. Photo shows Ms Cheong touring the Beijing SemiDrive Technology Corporation on March 25. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
The Under Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Ms Lillian Cheong (first right), visited a number of leading semiconductor and AI chip enterprises in Beijing. Photo shows Ms Cheong meeting representatives of GigaDevice Semiconductor Inc on March 25. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
The Under Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry, Ms Lillian Cheong, attended the Opening Ceremony of Zhongguancun (ZGC) Forum Annual Conference in Beijing on March 25. Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
USITI attends ZGC Forum Annual Conference activities in Beijing Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
USITI attends ZGC Forum Annual Conference activities in Beijing Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
USITI attends ZGC Forum Annual Conference activities in Beijing Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
USITI attends ZGC Forum Annual Conference activities in Beijing Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
USITI attends ZGC Forum Annual Conference activities in Beijing Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
USITI attends ZGC Forum Annual Conference activities in Beijing Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
USITI attends ZGC Forum Annual Conference activities in Beijing Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
USITI attends ZGC Forum Annual Conference activities in Beijing Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
