81.8pc of ICT execs in HK got a pay rise this year — HKCS study

4 in 5 ICT professionals in China got a pay rise last year. Source: Shutterstock

By Tech Wire Asia | 12 March, 2019

TECHNOLOGY talent is in short supply right now, and companies are struggling to find qualified executives to staff their digital transformation projects.

The talent pool, therefore, has quite a few options when it comes to choosing their workplace — and naturally, compensation is soaring.

According to a new survey by the HK Computer Society (HKCS), more than four in five Hong Kong ICT professionals received a pay rise this past year. In fact, it is believed that three out of four executives received a raise of more than four percent.

Experienced graduates got a bigger raise, naturally. Salaries of those with three years of experience grew by up to 10 percent, with 38.9 percent of those with five years’ experience saying they saw a bump of more than 20 percent.

The study also surveyed 55 companies, 39.6 percent of whom said they hired fresh ICT graduates this year, offering salaries of more than HK$12,000 (US$1,530).

These fresh graduates too saw salaries growing significantly, with more than 44 percent of companies saying they paid a premium of more than HK$4,000 (US$500) to attract the best of the lot.

“ICT industry has been lacking in talent. Last year, HKCS recorded a pay rise for ICT professionals with the rate mostly over 4 percent and had outperformed the inflation rate, which was an indication of stable growth of IT salary and a good industry prospect,” HKCS President Ted Suen told local media.

The HKCS President justified the raise pointing out that the recent release ‘Outline Development Plan for Greater Bay Area’ stated that Hong Kong will promote itself as an international innovation and technology hub.

He also cited the fact that leading sectors such as finance, shipping, trading, tourism and service industries have been relying on ICT for further development, pointing out that this demand will further grow in coming months.

The truth is, although Hong Kong is struggling to meet the need of local companies looking for technology talent, the country is also working on making it easier for overseas talent to migrate to the country to support the ICT needs of its businesses.