“I want to be a slacker for a while first before working full-time,” Kwok, a 22-year-old graduate of Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU) said.
“Working full-time is exhausting. My friends have lost some of their freedom as they cannot travel as much as they want.”
The imaging design and digital art graduate added it was common practice for people working at renowned design agencies to work overtime until the early hours and continue to work the next day.
Kwok, who asked to be identified only by her second name, said she planned to go for part-time jobs that were “more relaxing”, such as reception or administrative staff.
The number of births in the city in 2002, when most 2024 university graduates in Hong Kong were born, was 48,209.
Government statistics in 2020 showed 15,642 people were offered first-year places on publicly funded or self-financing bachelor’s degree courses.
01:48
Hong Kong’s post-Covid graduates look to the future while recalling student life
Hong Kong’s post-Covid graduates look to the future while recalling student life
Jessica Ng, 22, who graduated from HKMU with a degree in creative media and advertising, said she was “very worried” about not being able to land a job.
She said she planned to act fast due to concerns that “most job positions would be filled” because of fierce competition.
She added that, despite asking for an HK$18,000 (US$2,304) a month salary, most employers she had met said they could only offer HK$16,000.
Ng admitted she was “very anxious” about full-time work, after she discovered some friends had to work past midnight.
“I hope to have a work-life balance,” she said. “I do not wish to lose myself over work.
“To me, the meaning of life is not to make money. I would like to earn money with the aim of making myself happy.”
The phrase refers to a phenomenon that has emerged in China in recent years as some young people reject lives based around their careers and focus on personal development.
Wong said she would build a travel fund by working part-time jobs.
“I believe most young people born after 2000 are afraid of being wage slaves and do not want to be terrified by this idea,” she explained.
“I want to do more of what I love now when I have time.”
Wong added she did not want to give up her leisure time to work and pointed out that people in the design field might still need to work on holidays.
She said she also aimed to amass more than HK$100,000 in savings, but was not confident that her salary would hit HK$17,000 a month.
The University Grants Committee has said that undergraduates in arts and humanities subjects who graduated last year secured an average salary of HK$22,416 a month, up from HK$21,000 the year before.
An analysis of census statistics by a think tank last year found that the median salary for graduates aged 20 to 24 in 2022 was HK$17,424 a month.
Yukina Ikawa, 21, who graduated with a degree in Japanese from the University of Hong Kong, however, was optimistic about her earnings.
She said she had been hired by a Japanese company and was confident she could earn more than the median monthly salary.
But Ikawa added she also placed more emphasis on personal fulfilment than career success and money.
“Happiness is the most important thing to me,” she said. “I do not have any crazy goals.”
“My family is able to afford my living conditions so I will not put money as my first priority,” she said. “More importantly is that I am able to do what I love and be happy.”
But Ken Ng, 23, who studied China studies and international relations at the University of Hong Kong, bucked the trend and said his ambition was to be a “first-generation wealthy person”.
“Investing in cryptocurrencies, US stocks, working a job, starting a business – I will have an all-rounded development,” he added.
“I believe the entry salary for graduates of the Faculty of Arts is only HK$15,000, which is miserable, so I need a series of investments to fight inflation.”
Alexa Chow Yee-ping, the managing director of AMAC Human Resources Consultants, said graduates had shifted their priority from money towards work-life balance in recent years and may prefer part-time or freelance jobs over full-time jobs.
She said employers also had to work to retain younger staff through non-financial incentives to boost their work-life balance and mental health.
These included limited overtime, more holidays, a better working environment, or even hiring assistants to help with daily tasks such as dry-cleaning clothes.
Chow said people were generally better-off than they were in the past and families usually did not exert much pressure on their children to become financially independent.
“It is not good news for employers, as graduates are more nonchalant about their jobs,” she said. “It is hard for them to find reliable new blood.”
