Steep rise reflects ongoing need to attract and keep junior talent amid general decline across industry, according to survey
SARAH.KARACS@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Thursday, 21 April, 2016, 12:25am
Salaries among junior and entry-level employees in real estate rose by 46.7 per cent from last year, despite a decline in salaries across the industry, according to a survey conducted querying 1556 property professionals.
The 1.7 per cent drop in salaries across all property jobs in Hong Kong reflected a slump in the market and weak economy, according to property sector experts at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors who conducted the survey with recruitment consultancy Macdonald & Company.
But the steep rise in salaries in the 18-24 demographic reflected a need to entice more young Hongkongers into the industry to offset its ongoing problem of finding and keeping employees.
“All firms are doing their best to recruit a new workforce and retain talents so as to tackle the labour shortage issue,” said Andrew Lee Frics, the chairman of RICS Hong Kong board.
The survey reported that more incentives were being offered to attract new recruits across the industry, which included five-day working weeks and free health care.
The industry has been struggling to retain talent owing to unfavourable conditions of the market and declining number of development projects since 1997.
Last decade’s Sars outbreak and financial crisis contributed to the gloomy outlook of the industry, which had already been struggling to cope with the fact that the government ceased public housing projects after 2005.
“These fluctuations in workload induced a greater difficulty in attracting young bring people to join the industry,” said Lee.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/economy/article/1937445/hot-properties-salaries-among-young-employees-hong-kong-real
