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.
The University Grants Committee (UGC) released the graduate employment figures for last year on its website on Friday.
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.