How much of a pay rise can marketing and ad folks in HK expect?

According to SCMP, Hong Kong’s economy expanded by 7.9%  in the first three months of 2021. This confirms the city’s biggest jump in quarterly growth in 11 years. With the Hong Kong economy is slowly recovering, the marketing and advertising industry practitioners can enjoy a higher salary increase compared to fellow Hongkongers. According to the 2021 Job Seeker Salary Report conducted by JobsDB, across different industries in Hong Kong, there is a downward trend that seems to be continuing from 2020. On average, there is a small 0.4% salary increment this year, the lowest since 2008.

However, practitioners in digital marketing, e-commerce and social media sectors are highly sought after and can enjoy the highest increment (3.8%) across industries. This is hotly followed by the media and advertising industry (3%). Meanwhile, the marketing and branding industry is expected to have a 1.6% increment this year, slightly higher than the public relations and corporate affairs sector (1.5%). 

The report also examined employees' attitudes towards switching jobs, and many were found to be conservative on changing employers due to the global economy. In the past 12 months, 24% of respondents changed employers or job functions. Of which, 60% of them took their own initiative to make the change. Around 73% of respondents indicated that they only resigned after getting an offer to ensure job security.

There were three major reasons for changing jobs. These are job opportunities of the original job function contracted sharply due to the pandemic (24%); attracted by another job function which offers better career prospects or higher salary (18%), and original job functions or nature were on a downward trend, so career prospects were declining (12%).

Only slightly more than half (54%) of respondents felt a sense of job security. Reasons included "company restructuring makes my position or department redundant" (28%), and "the need to acquire new skills with digital transformation or technological advancement of my industry" (22%). To cope with it, employees tried to "adjust mindset and face the challenges with a positive attitude" (40%); "acquire new skills and try different roles" (33%); and "attend training or exams to attain qualifications or licenses for other job functions" (30%).

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