Dim prospects for new university graduates in Hong Kong, with fewer jobs, lower salaries amid economic slump
- A survey by a jobs portal finds that average starting salaries for fresh graduates has fallen nearly 4 per cent, the most in five years
- A database maintained by local universities, meanwhile, reveals the number of jobs available to recent graduates is down nearly a quarter
More than 20,000 university graduates in Hong Kong this year are facing the biggest drop in starting salaries in half a decade, with the number of vacancies available to them also falling by nearly a quarter compared to 2019, according to a major jobs portal and a joint university information system.
Amid the gloomier prospects, research by JobsDB obtained by the Post showed nearly a third of survey respondents aimed to seek employment overseas rather than in the city.
“Some companies have also turned to valuing quality more than quantity. With fewer openings for fresh graduates, employers were more selective amid tougher competition among students,” JobsDB chief executive Isaac Shao Kwan-shek said.
Last month, government figures showed the unemployment rate among those aged 20 to 24 hit 19.7 per cent between August and October – much higher than the city’s overall unemployment rate of 6.4 per cent, the worst in nearly 16 years.