Media

Full employment for HKU graduates reflects positive outlook

29 Apr 2013

Mr Herman Chan, HKU Director of Careers and Placement

The Careers and Placement Section of the HKU Centre of Development and Resources for Students (CEDARS) today (April 29, 2013) released the latest findings of the employment situation of its 2012 undergraduates. Full employment has been recorded for the seventh consecutive year. Campus recruitment activities remained vigorous in 2012/2013, reflecting a positive outlook for HKU graduates.

The key figures of the 2012 Graduate Employment Survey are:

1   Summary

1.1    Full employment for the seventh consecutive year (99.7%), same rate as in 2011 & 2010.

1.2    Employment industry distribution in 2012 stayed similar to that of 2011.

1.3    Average gross salary increased by 6.8%. Median gross salary increased by 5.6%.

1.4    Within commerce & industry, the greatest increase in salary was in the insurance (+14.6%), trading/marketing/retailing (+9.1%) and      construction (+8.0%) industries.

1.5    Employment market for professional services recorded an increase in salary (quantity surveying (+9.4%), architecture (+4.3%), law (3.2%)).

1.6    Across the salary ranges, more graduates entered higher paid jobs ranging $25,000-$29,999 (+4.0%) while fewer fell into the range of $10,000-$14,999 (-3.7%).

Dr Albert Chau, HKU Dean of Student Affairs 

 A group of HKU students and graduates establishes Young Entrepreneurs and Society Network “yesnetwork” to enpower social enterprises and nurture young entrepreneurs in the field.  (from left 2012 BBA (IBGM) graduate Carmen Chan , BBA (IBGM) student Thousand Lim, GLAW student Michael Wong, and BBA (IBGM) student Bobby Chan)

2    Survey methodology

The survey was conducted in the form of questionnaires to all 3,999 full-time graduates at all levels of the University. A total of 3,527 graduates replied, representing a response rate of 88.2%. Among the Bachelor’s Degree graduates, the response rate was 91.4%.

3    Full employment for graduates in 2012

3.1    The survey recorded a full employment rate at 99.7% among respondents, which was seven years in a row. (Table 1) Unemployment rate has been kept steady at a low level over the years.

3.2    There were 1.7% less graduates went for employment (from 80.6% in 2011 to 78.9% in 2012) and more opted for further studies (from 18.0% in 2011 to 19.7% in 2012). (Table 1) Despite the slight variation, the proportion of employment and further studies remained around 80% and 20% respectively over the years.

3.3    The employment industry distribution in 2012 stayed similar to that of 2011. As a core service economy of Hong Kong, business services combined with financial institutions as in the usual years, accounted for the largest sector of employment at 24.5% in 2012 and 29.2% in 2011. However, a drop (-4.7 p.p.) is observed for graduates joining these industries (Table 2).

3.4    A healthy salary increase was observed for 2012 graduates: both average gross salary and median gross salary increased by 6.8% (from $18,350 to $19,598) and 5.6% (from $15,000 to $15,833) respectively. (Table 3)

3.5    Within those industries in the commercial sector, the three industries that experienced higher salary increase were insurance (+14.6%), trading/marketing/retailing (+9.1%) and construction (+8.0%) (Table 4).

3.6    The employment market for professional services including quantity surveying, architecture, and law recorded an increase in salary of 9.4%, 4.3% and 3.2% respectively. (Table 5)

3.7    More graduates fell into the gross monthly income group of $25,000 to $29,999 (+4.0 p.p.) while fewer fell into the group of $10,000 to $14,999 (-3.7 p.p.). (Table 6)

3.8    Similar to previous job employment cycle, more than one-third of graduates secured job offers before graduation (Table 7).

3.9    Majority of the graduates experienced good job satisfaction despite a slight variation over the years. 80.5% of the graduates were either satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs. (Table 8) Fewer graduates changed jobs within six months upon graduation this year (10.9% down from 11.8% in 2011). (Table 9)

3.10   One-third of non-local graduates pursued further studies (33.0%). Among them, most chose either Hong Kong or USA as the destination for further studies (47.9% for HK and 34.2% for USA respectively). (Table 10 & Table 11) The phenomenon was similar to 2011.

3.11  Like that of 2011, two-third of non-local graduates went for employment (63.8%). Among them, most worked in Hong Kong (87.7%). There is also a significant increase in proportion of non-local graduates working in other Asian countries (from 2.2% to 7.4% in 2012). (Table 12)

4. Positive employment outlook for HKU students

4.1    Campus recruitment activities remained vigorous in 2012/2013. Up to April 2013, there are 189 campus recruitment talks (+8%) conducted to cope with companies’ business growth in Asia regions. Despite the fact that finance sector has reduced their full time recruitment, they shift their focus on internship hiring and remained as the top hiring industry followed by building/construction and Information Technology.

4.2    Overseas employment markets such as mainland China and Japan were expanded. More mainland China corporations hired from HKU with huge number of jobs spanning over a wide range of specializations.   An increased number of Japanese companies hired in HKU, looking for talents with good international exposure and high English proficiency for general management trainee, technical, business, marketing and administrative positions. 

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Trinni Choy, Assistant Director (Media) (Tel: 2859 2606 / Mobile: 9464 3431 / E-mail: pychoy@hku.hk), or Ms Eva Ho, Careers and Placement, CEDARS, HKU (Tel: 2859 2303 / E-mail: eva.ho@cedars.hku.hk)