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Overall Wage and Payroll Statistics
According to the figures released today (June 24) 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 1.9% in nominal terms in March 2010 over a year earlier.
About 58% of the companies reported increase in average wage rates in March 2010 compared with a year ago, close to the corresponding figure in December 2009. On the other hand, 34% of the companies recorded decrease in average wage rates over the same period, three percentage points down from 37% in December 2009. The remaining 8% 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 decreased by 0.6% in real terms in March 2010 over a year earlier.
As for payroll, the index of payroll per person engaged for all the industry sections surveyed increased by 1.1% in nominal terms in the first quarter of 2010 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 decreased by 0.7% in real terms in the first quarter of 2010 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 increases ranging from 1.1% to 3.9% were observed in all selected industry sections in March 2010 except the manufacturing section, in which a year-on-year decrease of 1.6% was recorded.
For the real wage indices, year-on-year increases were observed in the financial and insurance activities; real estate leasing and maintenance management; professional and business services; and personal services sections in March 2010, ranging from 0.5% to 1.3%. On the other hand, year-on-year decreases of 0.9% to 4.0% were recorded in the manufacturing; import/export, wholesale and retail trades; transportation; and accommodation and food service activities sections in March 2010.
The year-on-year changes in the nominal and real wage indices for the selected industry sections from March 2009 to March 2010 are shown in Table 1.
As for the nominal indices of payroll per person engaged, year-on-year increases were recorded in the manufacturing; import/export and wholesale trades; retail trade; transportation, storage, postal and courier services; accommodation and food service activities; information and communications; financial and insurance activities; real estate activities; and professional and business services sections in the first quarter of 2010, ranging from 1.2% to 5.2%. Meanwhile, the sewerage, waste management and remediation activities; and social and personal services sections recorded a decrease in nominal payroll of 4.3% and 3.0% respectively over a year earlier.
For the real payroll indices, year-on-year increases of 0.3% to 3.3% were recorded in the manufacturing; import/export and wholesale trades; transportation, storage, postal and courier services; accommodation and food service activities; information and communications; financial and insurance activities; real estate activities; and professional and business services sections in the first quarter of 2010. Yet for the sewerage, waste management and remediation activities; retail trade; and social and personal services sections, decreases ranging from 0.7% to 6.1% were recorded.
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 2009 to the first quarter of 2010 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 2009 and the first quarter of 2010 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 for the transport services sector based on HSIC V1.1 have also been compiled and published. Following the release of the wage statistics for the survey reference period of the fourth quarter of 2009 on 25 March 2010, wage indices for the transport services sector based on HSIC V1.1 have been provided for a transition period of 4 reference quarters, i.e. first quarter - fourth quarter 2009. Data users should have been given a sufficiently long period for switching over to using wage indices based on the new industrial classification of HSIC V2.0. Therefore, the compilation and publication of wage indices for the transport services sector based on HSIC V1.1 is discontinued and only wage statistics compiled based on HSIC V2.0 are available as from the survey reference period of the first quarter of 2010.
Detailed breakdowns of the payroll and wage statistics are published in the "Quarterly Report of Wage and Payroll Statistics, March 2010". 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/statistical_report/labour/index.jsp). Print version of this publication is available for sale at HK$64 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 24, 2010
Issued at HKT 16:32
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