Salary growth for Hong Kong degree graduates slows to 5-year low

salary growth for Hong Kong degree graduates slowed to a five-year low in 2025, with average annual earnings rising by just 2 per cent and sitting at HK$28,000 (US$3,570) a month as underemployment hit a record high.According to the data, the average annual salary of degree graduates stood at HK$336,000. The figure represented an average of HK$28,000 per month and a 2 per cent increase from the year before.The UGC also found that engineering and technology graduates had suffered a drop in earnings across sub-degree, degree and taught postgraduate levels, with the salary decline ranging from 0.3 to 5 per cent year on year.The trend prompted an expert to warn that Artificial Intelligence (AI) had removed the need for many entry-level jobs, especially in the technology sector, which was heavily reliant on such software.The overall annual salary growth, at 2 per cent, was the lowest recorded between 2020 and 2025, with past years seeing annual increments of about 4 to 8 per cent.