Professionals recruited under Hong Kong talent scheme earning median of HK$50,000 a month, double what locals make
“The heartening outcome shows that the scheme, which has just entered its first anniversary, has made significant contributions to expanding Hong Kong’s high-quality talent pool,” he said.
Most of the new arrivals were taking up high-skilled service and managerial jobs, with the median monthly income reaching HK$50,000, Lee said, citing a survey conducted by the Labour and Welfare Bureau in November. A quarter of them pocketed over HK$100,000 a month, he added.
According to figures released in the third quarter of last year, Hong Kong’s median monthly wage was HK$20,500.
The survey interviewed nearly 2,000 applicants and their spouses who had been in Hong Kong for over six months, according to Labour and Welfare Secretary Chris Sun Yuk-han.
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It found 54 per cent of the interviewees had found local employment and among them, 31 per cent were working in the financial service industry, 18 per cent in areas of innovation and technology, and 17 per cent in commerce and trade.
About 10 per cent of the talent earned HK$200,000 or more a month.
Overall, 43 per cent of respondents had settled in Hong Kong, with nearly 90 per cent of the remaining planning to do so within a year.
“The Top Talent Pass Scheme has achieved initial success, attracting many high-quality talent to settle in Hong Kong,” Sun said. “The next step is to retain these talents and enhance competitiveness.”
The minister pledged to offer more comprehensive, one-stop support for the arrivals, which would include information on housing, education for children, entrepreneurship support and Cantonese study.
Hong Kong also began bolstering its existing talent admission schemes in October 2022 to attract 35,000 professionals every year.
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All the schemes combined had received more than 240,000 applications since the end of 2022, with about 140,000 approved.
Roughly 90,000 professionals arrived in Hong Kong in 2023, nearly three times as many as the annual target for all the schemes.
Hong Kong’s economy is forecast to have grown by 3.2 per cent in 2023, following a contraction of 3.7 per cent in 2022.
United States credit rating agency Fitch Ratings, in a related development, reaffirmed Hong Kong’s long-term foreign currency issuer default rating at “AA-”, with a stable outlook.
The rating was based on the agency’s latest forecast of the city’s economic growth at 3 per cent for 2024 and 3.2 per cent in 2023. The growth was mostly fuelled by steady resumption in tourism.