Despite the economic down turn, 89 per cent of last year's Hong Kong Baptist University (BU) graduates joined the work force, according to a university survey.
This employment rate is about one percentage point less than 1997. Some 2.7 per cent of graduates (or 37 respondents) were unemployed at the time the survey was conducted - less than one percentage point above previous year's figure. Similar to 1997, about 6.7 per cent (90) went on to further studies.
The average monthly salary for BU graduates last year, ex cluding commission, allow ances and year-end bonuses, dropped to the 1996 level at $10,563, less than 1997's $11,230.
Graduates recruited by gov ernment departments and edu cation institutes enjoyed higher salaries of $16,780 and $14,570 respectively.
The 1998 graduate employ ment survey was based on 1,354 valid replies from 1,368 graduates.
The survey showed that 89 per cent of graduates of human resources management and ac counting are now engaged in full-time jobs, which was the highest among BU graduates.
