Media

HKU Graduates Hotly Sought After -- Reaching Full Employment for Two Consecutive Years With Higher Salary and High Job Satisfaction

24 Apr 2008

1.  Summary

1.1. The Careers and Placement Section, Centre of Development and Resources for Students (CEDARS) of the University of Hong Kong today (24 April, 2008) released the latest findings on the employment situation of its 2007 undergraduates. The key figures are:

• Full employment rate at 99.8% for the second consecutive year at record high level
• Average gross income at $17,112 per month, increased by 12.7% from the previous year
• Significant movement to higher monthly salary range of $20,000 and above
• 40.7% non-local graduates chose to work in Hong Kong
• 77.7% of graduates satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs
• 64.3% of graduates received two or more job offers

2.  Survey methodology

2.1. The Survey was conducted by questionnaire to the entire 2,712 full-time 2007 undergraduates of the University six months after their graduation. A total of 2,450 graduates replied, which was equivalent to a response rate of 90.3%.

3.  Full employment Again in 2007 Supported by a Buoyant Market

3.1. The employment market for fresh graduates remained buoyant in 2007. Almost all graduates secured full-time engagement reaching full employment (99.8%) for two years in a row. 

3.2. Four in five (80.7%) 2007 graduates entered the employment market whereas one in five (18.4%) pursued further studies. Comparing to the previous year, 2007 saw a slight increase (1.9 percentage points) of graduates entering the job market 

4.  Abundant Job Choices Available

4.1. One-third of our graduates received the first job offer before their final examination in May 2007.

4.2. For two consecutive years, over 60% of the employed undergraduates received two or more job offers. (64.3% in 2007 and 62.6% in 2006) 

4.3. Those receiving three or more job offers represent 34.7% of the total employed undergraduate population, and 13.8% of them received four or more job offers. The average job offers received was 2.24 for those entering the employment market, more or less the same with the situation last year (average 2.26 job offers in 2006). 

5.  High Job satisfaction

5.1. Majority of the graduates experienced good job satisfaction in positions which matched their interests and abilities. At the time of the survey, 83.6% of the employed graduates were still engaged with their first job after graduation.

5.2. 77.7% of the graduates were either satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs.

5.3. 75.1% of the graduates indicated that their jobs matched or highly matched with their interests and 82.5% of graduates found their jobs good or very good match of their abilities.

6.  12.7% Increase in Average Gross Salary at $17,112 per month. Significant movement towards higher salary range.

6.1. Average Gross Income is $17,112 per month, up by 12.7% from $15,188 in the previous year 

6.2. The increase in average gross income is attributed to the significant rise (10.2 percentage points) in the percentage of graduates who landed on higher paid jobs at over $20,000 per month, from 14.4% of 2006 to 24.6% this year. 

6.3. In particular, there is a sharp rise (7.6 percentage points) in the percentage of graduates whose salary falls in the range of $20,000 to $24,999 (12.2% in 2007, from 4.6% in 2006) Majority of the jobs in this salary bracket are government jobs or government-pay-scale jobs in the education, healthcare and social service professional sectors. The data reflects that there are more graduates entering these sectors. 

6.4. In the private sector (commerce and industry), there is an obvious increase in the number of students securing higher pay jobs, especially in the monthly salary range of $15,000-$19,999 (6 percentage points). This could be the result of the commerce and industry sector offering higher pay to compete for talents in a booming economy.  Most of the jobs in this salary range come from the banking, finance, engineering, architectural, insurance and business service sectors.

7.  Hong Kong as an Education Hub - A Popular Destination of work and further studies for non-local graduates

7.1. Overall speaking, 40.7 % of non-local graduates (including those from the Mainland and overseas countries) stayed in Hong Kong to work.

7.2. If we look at Mainland graduates alone, 44.4% pursued further studies. Among them, a significantly higher proportion (63.6%) chose Hong Kong as a destination for further studies instead of going abroad. 

7.3. Apart from further studying in Hong Kong, working here is common too among Mainland graduates. 40.7% of our mainland graduates chose to work in Hong Kong, among them almost all (95.5%) worked in the commerce and industry sector.

7.4. Some Hong Kong graduates took the chance to broaden their international outlook. In 2007, a total of 24 Hong Kong graduates opted to work outside Hong Kong after obtaining their first degree. Their first-destination countries included Mainland China (33.3%), Australia (13.3%), Singapore (13.3%), Macau (13.3%), United Kingdom (6.7%), Taiwan (6.7%), Japan (6.7%), and Denmark (6.7%).

8.  More job offers for 2008 Undergraduates

8.1. Up to mid-March 2008, a total of 337 offers have been received by the final year students. This compares favourably to 324 offers as at mid-May last year.

8.2. Job offers secured include : Procter & Gamble, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Standard Chartered Bank, Big Four audit firms, UBS, Merrill Lynch, IBM, Hong Kong International Airport, etc.

8.3. Looking ahead to middle or end of May, the 2008 figure is expected to exceed the 2007 figure by 5 percentage points.

Media Contact:

Cherry Cheung, Senior Manager (Media) HKU
Telephone: 2859 2606 / Mobile 8208 1686
Email: cherry.cheung@hku.hk

Eva Ho, Career and Placement, CEDARS, HKU
Telephone : 2859-2313
Fax : 2559-5238
Email : eva.ho@cepc.hku.hk