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Overall Wage and Payroll Statistics
According to the figures released today (March 27) by the Census and Statistics Department, the average wage rate for all the major sectors surveyed, as measured by the wage index, rose by 2.7% in nominal terms in December 2007 over a year earlier.
About 61% of the companies recorded increase in average wage rates in December 2007 compared with a year ago. On the other hand, 27% of the companies recorded decrease in average wage rates over the same period. The remaining 12% reported virtually no change in average wage rates.
After discounting the increase in consumer prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index (A), the overall average wage rate for all the major sectors surveyed decreased by 0.7% in real terms in December 2007 over a year earlier.
As for payroll, the index of payroll per person engaged for all the major sectors surveyed increased by 5.9% in nominal terms in the fourth quarter of 2007 over a year earlier.
After netting out the effect of the increase in consumer prices as measured by the Composite Consumer Price Index, the average payroll per person engaged increased by 2.4% in real terms in the fourth quarter of 2007 over 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 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 observed in all selected major sectors in December 2007, ranging from 2.0% to 3.8%.
For the real wage indices, there was a year-on-year increase of 0.4% in the personal services sector. As for all the other sectors, there were decreases ranging from 0.2% to 1.4%.
The year-on-year changes in the nominal and real wage indices for the selected major sectors from December 2006 to December 2007 are shown in Table 1.
As for the nominal indices of payroll per person engaged, year-on-year increases were recorded in all major sectors in the fourth quarter of 2007, ranging from 3.2% to 6.6%.
As for the real payroll indices, there were 3.1% and 0.9% year-on-year increases in the financing, insurance, real estate and business services sector, and community, social and personal services sector respectively. On the other hand, there was 0.2% year-on-year decrease in the wholesale, retail and import/export trades, restaurants, and hotels sector.
The year-on-year changes in the nominal and real indices of payroll per person engaged for selected major sectors from the fourth quarter of 2006 to the fourth quarter of 2007 are shown in Table 2. The quarterly changes in the seasonally adjusted nominal and real indices of payroll per person engaged between the fourth quarter of 2006 and the fourth quarter of 2007 are shown in Table 3.
Wage rates of selected occupations
Under the Wage Protection Movement, cleaning workers and security guards (both under direct employ and outsourced service contracts) of participating enterprises/organisations should be offered wages not lower than the relevant average market rates. The average monthly salaries of related occupations in selected industries are shown in Table 4 for easy reference.
Other information
Both wage indices and payroll indices are compiled quarterly based on the results of the Labour Earnings Survey conducted by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD).
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, the 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 number of hours of work and occupational composition between two successive statistical periods being kept unchanged. In other words, the wage index reflects the change in the price of labour. Thirdly, 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. 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 prices are used for compiling the real indices of wage and payroll, taking into account their relevance to the 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 employees at all levels of the occupational hierarchy. The Consumer Price Index (A), being an indicator of consumer prices for the middle to lower income groups, is taken as the price deflator for wages in respect of workers on 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 2007". Users can download this publication free of charge at the Website of the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) (www.censtatd.gov.hk/products_and_services/products/publications/index.jsp). Print version of this publication is available for sale at HK$49 per issue. Purchase can be done in person at the Publications Unit of the C&SD (Address: 19/F Wanchai Tower, 12 Harbour Road, Wan Chai; Tel: 2582 3025) or through mail order by returning a completed order form which can be downloaded from the C&SD's website (www.censtatd.gov.hk/products_and_services/other_services/provision_of_stat/mail_ordering_of_publications/index.jsp). Print version of this publication is also available for sale online at the Government Bookstore of the Information Services Department (www.bookstore.gov.hk).
For enquiries on payroll and wage statistics, please contact the Census and Statistics Department at 2887 5550.
Ends/Thursday, March 27, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:15
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