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Overall Wage and Payroll Statistics
According to the figures released today (June 25) 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, fell by 0.9% in nominal terms in March 2009 over a year earlier.
About 42% of the companies reported decrease in average wage rates in March 2009 compared with a year ago, 6 percentage points higher than the corresponding figure in December 2008. The decrease was partly attributable to reduction in guaranteed bonuses and allowances. On the other hand, 49% of the companies recorded increase in average wage rates over the same period, down from 57% in December 2008. The remaining 9% 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 selected industry sections surveyed decreased by 1.4% in real terms in March 2009 over a year earlier.
As for payroll, the index of payroll per person engaged for all the industry sections surveyed decreased by 0.2% in nominal terms in the first quarter of 2009 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 decreased by 1.9% in real terms in the first quarter of 2009 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 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 decreases were observed in the import/export, wholesale and retail trades; transportation; accommodation and food service activities; and real estate leasing and maintenance management sections in March 2009, ranging from 0.9% to 2.1%. On the other hand, increases ranging from 0.1% to 2.2% were recorded in the manufacturing; financial and insurance activities; professional and business services; and personal services sections.
For the real wage indices, year-on-year decreases were observed in the import/export, wholesale and retail trades; transportation; accommodation and food service activities; financial and insurance activities; and real estate leasing and maintenance management sections in March 2009, ranging from 0.4% to 2.6%. As for the manufacturing; professional and business services; and personal services sections, year-on-year increases of 0.5% to 1.6% were recorded.
The year-on-year changes in the nominal and real wage indices for the selected industry sections from March 2008 to March 2009 are shown in Table 1.
As for the nominal indices of payroll per person engaged, year-on-year decreases ranging from 1.7% to 14.2% were recorded across most industry sections in the first quarter of 2009. Meanwhile, the sewerage, waste management and remediation activities; retail trade; transportation, storage, postal and courier services; and social and personal services sections recorded a rise in nominal payroll of 0.4% to 6.8% over a year earlier.
For the real payroll indices, year-on-year decreases were recorded in almost all industry sections in the first quarter of 2009, ranging from 1.1% to 15.7%. Yet for the social and personal services section, a year-on-year increase of 5.0% was observed.
The year-on-year changes in the nominal and real indices of payroll per person engaged for selected industry sections from the first quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2009 are shown in Table 2. The quarterly changes in the seasonally adjusted nominal and real indices of payroll per person engaged between the first quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009 are shown in Table 3.
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 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 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 middle to lower income groups, is taken as the price deflator for wages in respect of employees on occupations up to the supervisory level.
Furthermore, industries covered in the LES are classified according to the "Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification (HSIC)". Upon implementation of the new Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification Version 2.0 (HSIC V2.0) by the C&SD in October 2008, the LES has been enhanced to adopt HSIC V2.0, in place of HSIC V1.1, in classifying the industries of surveyed establishments. All the wage and payroll statistics from the first quarter of 2009 onwards, unless otherwise specified, are compiled based on HSIC V2.0. The series of wage and payroll indices under HSIC V2.0 have also been backcasted to the first quarter of 2004. To meet the data needs of some major users of wage statistics, wage indices based on HSIC V1.1 are compiled for the transport services sector and published in Appendix A of the "Quarterly Report of Wage and Payroll Statistics, March 2009".
Detailed breakdowns of the payroll and wage statistics are published in the "Quarterly Report of Wage and Payroll Statistics, March 2009". 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$60 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 wage and payroll statistics, please contact the Wages and Labour Costs Statistics Section (1) of the Census and Statistics Department at 2887 5550.
Ends/Thursday, June 25, 2009
Issued at HKT 16:31
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