Hong Kong employees group wants year-end raise of 5.5pc, but employers say it’s unlikely
Amount was based on calculations involving inflation rate and profit and salary changes in local corporations and groups
An employees group is asking for a year-end salary increase beyond the inflation rate, at 5.5 per cent, though employers warned that such expectations would be difficult to meet.
A survey by the Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions found that 647 of the 787 participants – who had an average age of 49 and an average monthly salary of HK$15,300 – had received an average pay increase of 3.46 per cent between late 2015 and now.
Another 119 employees – 15 per cent of those surveyed– claimed that they had not received any raise or had their salaries cut in the same period.
“The salary increase last year met the inflation rate, yet we believe many employers have the ability to afford a salary increase larger than that,” the federation’s social affairs supervisor Jenny Tam Kam-lin said.
Tam said the amount was based on calculations made after considering the inflation rate and observing the profit and salary changes for 80 local corporations and groups from November 2015 to October this year.
According to Tam, the inflation rate from September 2015 to September 2016 – based on the government’s calculation of consumer price index A – was 3.3 per cent, while the food and housing price indices rose by 2.7 per cent and 5.3 per cent respectively.
