Hong Kong’s statutory minimum wage will increase by one dollar to HK$43.1 per hour on 1 May, the first adjustment under a new “annual review” formula.
The 2.38 per cent rise was calculated using a mechanism that combines consumer price inflation with an economic growth factor. After being accepted by the Chief Executive in Council and gazetted on 20 February, the government formally submitted the amendment bill to the Legislative Council on 25 February. Authorities describe the new mechanism as objective and transparent, claiming it balances the need to prevent excessively low wages against the risk of job losses.
Yet for the vast majority of the city’s lowest-paid workers, the increase will make little difference.
Hong Kong was ranked the second most expensive city in Asia in a 2025 study by the Asia Competitiveness Institute. For the city’s lowest-paid workers, every dollar counts.
But government figures show the new minimum wage will directly benefit fewer than 1.4 per cent of all employees. Between 18,800 and 39,400 workers currently earn below the new $43.1 rate – a tiny fraction of the city’s workforce.
For the vast majority of low-paid workers earning just above this new threshold, there will be no pay increase at all. They will, however, still face the 1.4 per cent inflation recorded by the Census and Statistics Department for 2025. This is the quiet crisis at the heart of the government’s announcement: while a small group receives a modest raise, hundreds of thousands of cleaners, cashiers and restaurant workers will see their real income slowly shrink.
‘None of My Business’: One Worker’s Story
“The minimum wage rise is none of my business,” said Kathy Yiu, an 18-year-old university student who works part-time as a cleaner at a McDonald’s restaurant.
“My company didn’t increase my pay because I already receive a bit more than the lowest rate,” she explained. Every day after classes, she works from 3 pm to 11 pm.
Yiu earns $50 per hour – nearly $7 above the new minimum wage of $43.1. On paper, this puts her ahead. In reality, it means she will be excluded from the government’s pay rise entirely while still facing rising prices for food and transport.
Her situation illustrates what economists call the “wage ladder effect”: when the government raises the minimum wage, employers face a choice. They can raise wages only for workers earning below the new rate, or they can increase wages for everyone to maintain the gap between entry-level staff and experienced workers.
Most businesses choose the first option. Raising everyone’s pay would mean shifting the entire wage scale upward – a cost most are unwilling to bear. So workers like Yiu, who sit just one rung above the bottom, are left exactly where they were.
‘We Do All the Dirty Work’
“I am thankful I still have a job,” said Wong, a 60-year-old cleaner employed by an outsourcing company contracted to maintain public toilets. “At my age, many people cannot find work.”
But gratitude does not pay the bills.
Wong earns a monthly salary just above the minimum wage. Because her pay is fixed by a three-year contract, she will not see the May increase until the contract is renewed – possibly years from now.
She does not complain loudly. But she notices the gap. Civil servants, with secure jobs and clean work, earn more than double what she takes home. They work for the same government. They serve the same public. But their pay moves while hers stays frozen.
The government calls its new formula “objective” and “transparent.” On 1 May, the wage will rise. For most of the city’s lowest-paid workers, life will stay exactly the same.
Sitting in her small resting room at the public toilet block, Wong said quietly: “We do all the dirty work. We also serve society, just like they do.”