Following is a question by the Hon Adrian Ho and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Joseph Chan, in the Legislative Council today (October 22):

Question:

     Regarding the data that reflects Hong Kong's economic situation, will the Government inform this Council:

(1) of the median monthly employment earnings of employed persons and the median monthly household income in Hong Kong, as well as the three industry sectors that recorded the highest growth rates in median monthly employment earnings, for the past four quarters (up to the last month); the number of those industry sectors in which the median monthly employment earnings of employed persons recorded an increase;

(2) given that the Government has raised the maximum value of properties chargeable to the $100 stamp duty to $4 million with effect from ‍February 26 this year, of the respective amounts of stamp duty revenue collected in respect of (i) property leases, (ii) agreements for sale and purchase, or (iii) transfers of residential and non-residential properties in the current financial year to date; the changes in such stamp duty revenues as compared with those of the same period last year;

(3) of the proportion of the financial services sector in the Gross Domestic Product and the stamp duty revenue related to stock transfers collected in the past two years; the change in such stamp duty revenue as compared with that of the same period last year;

(4) given that the Government has resumed the collection of hotel accommodation tax at a rate of 3 per cent on the accommodation charges with effect from January 1 this year, of the respective amounts of hotel accommodation tax collected by the Government each month up to the third quarter of this year; and

(5) of the amount of revenue received by the Government from business registration fees, and the number of applications for exemption from payment of business registration fee received since January this year?

Reply:

President,

     In response to the questions raised by the Hon Adrian Ho, after consulting the relevant government departments, my reply is as follows:

(1) The statistics on the median monthly employment earnings of employed persons and median monthly household income from Q3 2024 to Q2 2025 (excluding foreign domestic helpers) compiled based on the survey results of the General Household Survey of the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) are provided in Table 1. The statistics for Q3 2025 are still being compiled.

     The median monthly employment earnings of employed persons by industry of main employment (excluding foreign domestic helpers) during the same period are provided in Table 2. The three industries with the largest year-on-year increases in Q2 2025 were manufacturing sector (12.5 per cent); transportation, storage, postal and courier services, information and communications sector (7.3 per cent); as well as financing and insurance sector (5.3 per cent). The industries which recorded a year-on-year growth in median monthly employment earnings include the construction sector; import/export trade and wholesale sector; real estate and professional and business services sector; accommodation and food services sector; and public administration, social and personal services sector.

(2) From April to September 2025, the stamp duty collection from (i) lease, (ii) sale and purchase of properties and (iii) transfer of properties other than by way of sale and purchase and their comparison with the same period of last year is presented in the table below.
 

Stamp duty	Amount ($)	Comparison with the same period in 2024
Lease	350 million	-30%
Sale and purchase of properties	9.2 billion	+7%
Transfer of properties other than by way of sale and purchase	54 million	-13%

(3) According to the statistics of the C&SD, the financial services sector took up about 22 per cent and 25 per cent of GDP in 2022 and 2023 respectively. The statistics for 2024 are still being compiled.

     The stamp duty collection from stock transactions in 2024-25 was $52 billion, representing an increase of about 43 per cent compared to last year. The stamp duty collection from stock transactions in the first two quarters of 2025-26 was about $44 billion, representing an increase of about 143 per cent comparing to the same period of last year.

(4) Under the Hotel Accommodation Tax Ordinance (Cap. 348), the hotel accommodation tax (HAT) is levied quarterly and hotel and guesthouse proprietors are required to pay the HAT to the Government within 14 days after quarter-end. The HAT collected by the Government for the first and second quarters of 2025 amounted to about $190 million and $170 million respectively. The statistics for Q3 2025 are still being compiled.

(5) From January to September 2025, the business registration fee collected was about $2.6 billion, while the number of applications for exemption from payment of business registration fee and levy received was around 21 000 in the same period.

Table 1: Median monthly employment earnings of employed persons and median monthly household income (excluding foreign domestic helpers)
 

	Q3 2024	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Q2 2025
Median monthly employment earnings of employed persons (excluding foreign domestic helpers) (1) (2) (HK$)	22,000	22,000	22,500	22,300
Median monthly household income (excluding foreign domestic helpers) (3) (4) (HK$)	30,000	29,400	30,000	30,000

Notes:
Both median monthly employment earnings and median monthly household incomes are rounded to the nearest hundred.

(1) Monthly employment earnings refer to earnings (before deduction of Mandatory Provident Fund contributions) from all jobs during the month before enumeration. For employees, they include wage and salary, bonus, commission, tips, housing allowance, overtime allowance, attendance allowance and other cash allowances. However, back pays are excluded. For employers and self-employed, they refer to amounts drawn from the self-owned enterprise for personal and household use. If information on the amounts drawn for personal and household use is not available, data on net earnings from business would be collected instead.

(2) Employed persons refer to those persons aged 15 and over who have been engaged in performing work for pay or profit during the seven days before enumeration or who have had formal job attachment. Unpaid family workers and employed persons who were on leave/holiday during the seven days before enumeration are included.

(3) Monthly household income refers to the total cash income, including earnings (before deduction of Mandatory Provident Fund contributions) from all jobs and other cash income received in the month before enumeration by all members of the household. Other cash income includes income generated from rent income, interest, dividends, regular/monthly pensions and insurance annuity benefits, regular contribution from persons outside the household, regular contribution from charities and all government subsidies.

(4) Domestic household consists of persons who live together and make common provision for essentials for living. These persons need not be related. If a person makes provision for essentials for living without sharing with other persons, he/she is also regarded as a household. In this case, the household is a one-person household. A domestic household must have at least one member who is a Usual Resident. Households comprising Mobile Residents only are not classified as domestic households.

Table 2: Median monthly employment earnings of employed persons by industry of main employment (excluding foreign domestic helpers)
 

Industry of main employment (3) (4)	Median monthly employment earnings of employed persons (excluding foreign domestic helpers) (1) (2)
	Q3 2024	Q4 2024	Q1 2025	Q2 2025
	(HK$)	(HK$)	(HK$)	(HK$)	Year-on-year % change
Manufacturing	20,000	20,000	21,500	22,500	+12.5%
Construction	22,700	23,000	23,500	23,000	+4.5%
Import/export trade and wholesale	23,900	24,500	25,000	25,000	+4.2%
Retail, accommodation and food services	16,000	16,000	16,600	16,000	-
Retail	15,700	15,500	16,000	15,000	-
Accommodation and food services	16,800	17,000	17,000	17,000	+1.8%
Transportation, storage, postal and courier services, information and communications	21,100	21,100	22,000	22,000	+7.3%
Financing, insurance, real estate, professional and business services	25,000	24,200	25,500	25,200	+0.8%
Financing and insurance	40,000	37,500	40,000	40,000	+5.3%
Real estate and professional and       business services	20,000	20,000	20,700	20,700	+3.5%
Public administration, social and personal services	26,500	26,000	26,000	26,000	+0.8%
Other industries	25,000	23,000	23,600	26,200	+0.8%
Overall	22,000	22,000	22,500	22,300	+5.2%

Notes:
Median monthly employment earnings are rounded to the nearest hundred.

(1) and (2) Please refer to Notes (1) and (2) under Table 1.

(3) Industry refers to the activity of the establishment in which the respondent worked during the seven days before enumeration. The General Household Survey currently follows the major industry groups of the Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification Version 2.0 to classify the industry of an employed person and the previous industry of an unemployed person.

(4) Main employment refers to the job on which a person spent most of his/her time if he/she had more than one job at the time of enumeration. All other jobs were regarded as secondary employment.

Ends/Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Issued at HKT 11:45

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