Demand for retail goods boost HK jobs
The job market in Hong Kong continues to be good for infocomm technology (ICT) professionals.
In particular, the IT, Web and telecom sector is attracting higher salaries and, was a market segment in which the majority of Hong Kong respondents in the ZDNet Asia IT Salary Benchmark Survey 2008 worked. About 52.1 percent of those polled in the territory were from the field.
The survey also revealed that the average annual salary of IT, Web and telecom was HK$440,632 (US$56,445). A total number of 1,445 complete responses were submitted from Hong Kong.
Daniel Cheah, manager of the IT commerce division at Robert Walters Hong Kong, noted the versatility of the IT, Web and telecom sector in the Chinese city.
"The rise in the number of jobs within the sector is partly because of increased opportunities in retail and consumer sales, which in turn drives staffing demands in systems integration firms and software/hardware vendors," Cheah said in an e-mail interview.
"Also, Web technologies are utilized to manage enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer sales enquiries, as well as purchase orders globally," he said. "Web-based skills in demand are SOA (service-oriented architecture) with ITIL (information technology library) process knowledge."
"Telecom job openings have risen due to the resurgence of telecom-related projects, in particular, for the latest property developments in Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China," Cheah said.
As for the other sectors, those working in legal and finance had the highest average annual salary at HK$492,917 (US$63,143). ICT employees in the government, education and health sector have the lowest average annual salary of HK$395,619 (US$50,679).
According to the ZDNet Asia survey, the overall average annual salary for Hong Kong was HK$445,817 (US$57,109).
More than one-third, or 38.7 percent, of respondents from Hong Kong worked in companies with fewer than 100 employees, while 32 percent were from businesses with between 100 and 999 employees and 29.3 percent were from large companies.
In terms of job experience, the largest percentage (at 41.9 percent) had five to 10 years of experience, and the smallest group at 27.7 percent, had less than five years of experience. The remaining, 30.4 percent of Hong Kong respondents, had more than 10 years.
Some 47.5 percent of those surveyed had a Bachelor's Degree, followed by those with a Master's Degree at 34.6 percent, Diploma (11.1 percent), vocational/tech school certificate (4.9 percent), and PhD (1.8 percent).
Cheah said: "The next three months should see increasing competition for IT talent as companies seek regional talent from Australia, Singapore and Taiwan, to meet their IT implementation and business growth plans.
"IT staff wages may continue rising, but companies will be very selective in recruiting experienced and business-minded candidates," he explained. "The number of job openings in Hong Kong might increase if the current exodus of IT talent to mainland China and Macau continues. IT managers, operations and security/networking engineers are short in supply in those markets."
IT Salary Benchmark Survey 2008
ZDNet Asia conducted an online survey between late-2007 and early-2008 to gain insights into Asia's IT workforce and salary trends. It drew 21,635 respondents from sectors such as government, healthcare, IT, services, telecommunications, legal and finance, and across seven Asian economies: Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Some 1,445 respondents were polled from Hong Kong, 52.1 percent of whom held jobs in the IT, Web and telecom sectors.
Average Annual Salary by Industry
| Job Function | Industry | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Government Education and Health | IT, Web & Telecom | Legal and Finance | Media, Marketing and Sales (non-IT) | Manufacturing, Services and Others (non-IT) | Combined | ||
| IT Management | HK$ 568,789 | HK$ 620,101 | HK$ 706,979 | HK$ 566,464 | HK$ 582,197 | HK$ 615,412 | |
| Project management | HK$ 377,841 | HK$ 420,779 | HK$ 473,807 | HK$ 373,015 | HK$ 362,357 | HK$ 415,275 | |
| Systems Development | HK$ 367,995 | HK$ 353,369 | HK$ 389,370 | HK$ 358,040 | HK$ 375,333 | HK$ 363,861 | |
| Communications | HK$ 516,737 | HK$ 456,581 | HK$ 606,232 | HK$ 439,987 | HK$ 485,125 | HK$ 477,224 | |
| Support | HK$ 303,559 | HK$ 430,072 | HK$ 256,871 | HK$ 261,996 | HK$ 355,470 | HK$ 368,620 | |
| Other IT Professionals | HK$ 348,744 | HK$ 535,392 | HK$ 519,984 | HK$ 296,658 | HK$ 680,633 | HK$ 513,450 | |
| Overall | HK$ 395,619 | HK$ 440,632 | HK$ 492,917 | HK$ 422,875 | HK$ 457,050 | HK$ 445,817 | |
Average Annual Salary of the Top Five IT Skills
| % of Respondents | IT Skills | Average Annual Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 59.9% | Application Development | HK$ 457,778 |
| 37.2% | System Administration | HK$ 453,474 |
| 36.8% | Enterprise Applications | HK$ 488,150 |
| 35.8% | Desktops/ Software | HK$ 446,328 |
| 35.2% | Servers/ Networking | HK$ 451,597 |
Average Annual Salary by Job Function and Employment Status
| Job Function | Employment Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract | Full-time | Combined | |
| IT Management | HK$ 595,592 | HK$ 615,886 | HK$ 615,412 |
| Project management | HK$ 331,471 | HK$ 422,196 | HK$ 415,275 |
| Systems Development | HK$ 247,357 | HK$ 371,105 | HK$ 363,861 |
| Communications | NA | HK$ 477,224 | HK$ 477,224 |
| Support | HK$ 381,966 | HK$ 368,272 | HK$ 368,620 |
| Other IT Professionals | HK$ 322,190 | HK$ 519,159 | HK$ 513,450 |
| Overall | HK$ 330,965 | HK$ 451,928 | HK$ 445,817 |