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The Chief Executive in Council has approved the Minimum Wage Commission’s recommendation to raise Hong Kong’s Statutory Minimum Wage from its prevailing level of HK$40 to HK$42.1 per hour, an increase of HK$2.1 or 5.25%. The rise in the minimum wage, the monthly monetary cap on the requirement for employers to record employees’ working hours will also be raised, from HK$16,300 to HK$17,200 per month.
The Minimum Wage Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 3) Notice 2025 will be published in the Gazette on February 21, 2025, and tabled in the Legislative Council (LegCo) on February 26, 2025. Subject to the approval of the LegCo, the new SMW rate will take effect on May 1, 2025.
By adopting the formula approved by the Chief Executive in council on April 30, 2024, the Minimum Wage Commission derived the recommended SMW rate. You can view the calculation of the recommended Statutory Minimum Wage rate here.
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr. Chris Sun, said the Government is of the view that the Minimum Wage Commission has ably discharged its statutory function of reviewing the SME rate after careful consideration. The recommendation of the Minimum Wage Commission is in line with the policy objectives of the Statutory Minimum Wage to maintain an appropriate balance between forestalling excessively low wages and minimizing the loss of low-paid jobs, while giving due regard to sustaining Hong Kong’s economic growth and competitiveness.
The Government will publish the Employment Ordinance (Amendment of Ninth Schedule) Notice 2025 in the Gazette on February 21 and table it in the LegCo on February 26. The Notice amends the monthly monetary cap on the requirement for employers to record the total number of hours worked by employees in a wage period. An employer will be exempted from the requirement to record the total number of hours worked by an employee in a wage period if the wages payable to the employee for that wage period are not less than $17,200 (currently $16,300) per month. In tandem with the commencement of the revised SMW rate, the revised monthly monetary cap will come into force on the same day as the revised rate takes effect, which is May 1, 2025.
Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) applies to all employees, whether they are monthly-rated, weekly-rated, daily-rated, hourly-rated, piece-rated, permanent, casual, full-time, part-time or other employees, and regardless of whether they are employed under a continuous contract as defined in the Employment Ordinance, with the following exceptions:
1. Persons to whom the Employment Ordinance does not apply
2. Live-in domestic workers
3. Specified student interns and work experience students during a period of exempt student employment
4. Self-employed persons
