Five persons arrested during anti-illegal worker operations
The Immigration Department (ImmD) mounted a series of territory-wide anti-illegal worker operations codenamed "Twilight", a joint operation with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department codenamed "Flabbergast", and joint operations with the Hong Kong Police Force codenamed "Windsand" and "Champion" from March 20 to yesterday (March 26). A total of four suspected illegal workers and one suspected aider and abettor were arrested.
ImmD officers found that social media platforms have been utilised by Mainland makeup artists to advertise makeup services in Hong Kong. After a comprehensive investigation and intelligence analysis, ImmD officers identified a suspect and initiated an operation. Officers disguised themselves as customers to enquire about and book makeup services from a Mainland makeup artist. The makeup artist was subsequently arrested while providing makeup service in Hong Kong. The arrested illegal worker is a woman, aged 27.
During the anti-illegal worker operations, ImmD officers also raided multiple target locations including restaurants, retail stores and flats under renovation, etc. Three suspected illegal workers and a suspected aider and abettor were arrested. The arrested suspected illegal workers comprised one man and two women, aged 35 to 57. Among them, one man was suspected of using and being in possession of a forged Hong Kong identity card. Furthermore, the suspected aider and abettor arrested was a man aged 31.
An ImmD spokesman said, "Any person who contravenes a condition of stay in force in respect of him or her shall be guilty of an offence. Also, visitors are not allowed to take employment in Hong Kong, whether paid or unpaid, without the permission of the Director of Immigration. Offenders are liable to prosecution and upon conviction face a maximum fine of $50,000 and up to two years' imprisonment. Aiders and abettors are also liable to prosecution and penalties."
The spokesman warned, "As stipulated in section 38AA of the Immigration Ordinance, an illegal immigrant, a person who is the subject of a removal order or a deportation order, an overstayer or a person who was refused permission to land is prohibited from taking any employment, whether paid or unpaid, or establishing or joining any business. Offenders are liable upon conviction to a maximum fine of $50,000 and up to three years' imprisonment. As stipulated in section 20(1)(a) of the Immigration Ordinance, the Chief Executive may make a deportation order against an immigrant, prohibiting the immigrant from being in Hong Kong at any time thereafter if the immigrant has been found guilty in Hong Kong of an offence punishable by imprisonment for not less than two years. Under the prevailing laws, it is an offence to use or possess a forged identity card or an identity card related to another person. Offenders are liable to prosecution and upon conviction face a maximum fine of $100,000 and up to 10 years' imprisonment."
The spokesman stressed that it is a serious offence to employ people who are not lawfully employable. Under the Immigration Ordinance, the maximum penalty for an employer employing a person who is not lawfully employable, i.e. an illegal immigrant, a person who is the subject of a removal order or a deportation order, an overstayer or a person who was refused permission to land, has been significantly increased from a fine of $350,000 and three years' imprisonment to a fine of $500,000 and 10 years' imprisonment to reflect the gravity of such offences. The director, manager, secretary, partner, etc, of the company concerned may also bear criminal liability. The High Court has laid down sentencing guidelines that the employer of an illegal worker should be given an immediate custodial sentence.
According to the court sentencing, employers must take all practicable steps to determine whether a person is lawfully employable prior to employment. Apart from inspecting a prospective employee's identity card, the employer has the explicit duty to make enquiries regarding the person and ensure that the answers would not cast any reasonable doubt concerning the lawful employability of the person. The court will not accept failure to do so as a defence in proceedings. It is also an offence if an employer fails to inspect the job seeker's valid travel document if the job seeker does not have a Hong Kong permanent identity card. Offenders are liable upon conviction to a maximum fine of $150,000 and to imprisonment for one year. In that connection, the spokesman would like to remind all employers not to defy the law by employing illegal workers. The ImmD will continue to take resolute enforcement action to combat such offences.
Under the existing mechanism, the ImmD will, as a standard procedure, conduct an initial screening of vulnerable persons, including illegal workers, illegal immigrants, sex workers and foreign domestic helpers, who are arrested during any operation with a view to ascertaining whether they are trafficking in persons (TIP) and/or forced labour victims. When any TIP and/or forced labour indicator is revealed in the initial screening, the ImmD officers will conduct a full debriefing and identification by using a standardised checklist to ascertain the presence of TIP and/or forced labour elements. Identified TIP and/or forced labour victims will be provided with various forms of support and assistance, including urgent intervention, medical services, counselling, shelter or temporary accommodation and other supporting services. The ImmD calls on TIP and/or forced labour victims to report crimes to the relevant departments immediately.
For reporting illegal employment activities, please call the dedicated hotline 185 185, fax at 2824 1166, emailanti_crime@immd.gov.hk, or submit the "Online Reporting of Immigration Offences" form atwww.immd.gov.hk.
Five persons arrested during anti-illegal worker operations Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
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
