Hong Kong employees received the smallest pay rise after the pandemic this year at 3.2 per cent, but they could expect better packages and employment opportunities next year, a human resources professionals representative said.

The Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management revealed on Thursday that employees in the city enjoyed a pay rise of 3.2 per cent in 2024, the lowest rate since the Covid-19 pandemic ended in 2022.

But Lawrence Hung Yu-yun, president of the institute, said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the outlook of pay packages, with the institute forecasting a 3.6 per cent pay rise for 2025.

“The economic situation is unfavourable this year. But the worst time has passed, as we now have more inbound travellers and firms are also benefiting from interest rate cuts,” Hung said.

The numbers are parts of a survey conducted from January to September this year among 186 enterprises based in Hong Kong, involving nearly 110,000 employees.

The survey also found that more than 8.3 per cent of firms surveyed conducted a pay freeze, affecting almost 20 per cent of employees covered by the study, compared with only 6.8 per cent in 2023.