Salary Fluctuations in Hong Kong

Hi all,


I am a Canadian manager supervising an off-site operations involving a Hong Kong local company. I have recently been involved in salary discussions for the local HK staff. It was explained to me that salaries in HK can fluctuate up and DOWN depending on the inflation rates. It appears it's part of "business as usual" in Asian countries where the economy is more volatile.


From a North American perspective, where salary reductions have huge (and negative) connotations, I'm very puzzled by this state of affairs. My questions is this: historically, has this happened a lot, and is there reliable/accessible data that can help my company put together a credible business plan under those conditions?


I realize this is a pretty big question, but any help will be hugely appreciated.


Kind regards,


Jean C.

I believe the question is rooted in the company/ business OPEX. With OPEX decrease due to top line decrease (not surprise by the current market situation), there are many expenses that can be saved to meet the OPEX target, instead of cutting the salary, such as reduce business travel expense (typically this is a large expense). I believe cutting the salary is the last things to do. A good communication plan to have staff working together to ride through the economy crisis is also important.

Even public servant salaries fell during the SARS crisis. To answer your question, yes they do go down, but I wouldn't say "with inflation", more so when the economy is some state of crisis, like in 1997 and during SARS.


No data to back this up other than my own salary drop of 3% during SARS which has only now been made up.

Ditto. My previous employer in HK made a shed load of ppl redundant back in 2001, and forced those of us remaining to agree to a minimum 10% pay cut.