Statutory Minimum Wage

Statutory Minimum Wage (SMW) has come into force since 1 May 2011. The prevailing SMW rate is $40 per hour effective from 1 May 2023.

The Chief Executive (CE) in Council has adopted the recommendation of the Minimum Wage Commission (MWC) on raising the SMW rate to $42.1 per hour. Subject to the approval of the Legislative Council, the revised SMW rate will come into force on 1 May 2025.

Press release - CE in Council adopts recommendation on Statutory Minimum Wage rate

Minimum Wage Ordinance (Amendment of Schedule 3) Notice 2025

Employment Ordinance (Amendment of Ninth Schedule) Notice 2025

On the other hand, CE in Council has accepted the recommendations of the MWC on enhancing the review mechanism of SMW on 30 April 2024, including reviewing the SMW rate once a year (annual review), adopting the Formula for implementing the annual review and reviewing the aforesaid new annual review mechanism five to ten years after its implementation. The first SMW rate derived under the new mechanism is expected to take effect on 1 May 2026.

For the monthly monetary cap on the requirement of employers recording the total number of hours worked by employees, please click here.

Guidelines on Statutory Minimum Wage

• Statutory Minimum Wage: latest revision
  • Chinese (PDF) 
  • English (PDF)
  • Bahasa Indonesia
  • Tagalog
  • Thai ภาษาไทย
  • Hindi हिंदी
  • Nepali नेपाली
  • Urdu اردو
  • Sinhala සිංහල
  • Punjabi ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
  • Vietnamese Tiếng Việt

• Concise Guide to Statutory Minimum Wage
  • Chinese (PDF) 
  • English (PDF)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (PDF) (Text Only)
  • Tagalog (PDF) (Text Only)
  • Thai ภาษาไทย (PDF) (Text Only)
  • Hindi हिंदी (PDF) (Text Only)
  • Nepali नेपाली (PDF) (Text Only)
  • Urdu اردو (PDF) (Text Only)
  • Sinhala සිංහල (PDF) (Text Only)
  • Punjabi ਪੰਜਾਬੀ (PDF) (Text Only)
  • Vietnamese Tiếng Việt (PDF) (Text Only)

• Statutory Minimum Wage : Reference Guidelines for Employers and Employees (PDF)

• Statutory Minimum Wage : Industry-specific Reference Guidelines
  • Real Estate Agency (PDF)
  • Logistics (PDF)
  • Property Management, Security Services and Cleaning Services (PDF)
  • Hotel and Tourism (PDF)
  • Catering (PDF)
  • Retail (PDF)

Student interns and work experience students during a period of exempt student employment:

(For exemption details, please click here)

• Statutory Minimum Wage : Notes for Student Employees and Employers (PDF)
• Leaflet on Exemption for specified student interns and work experience students (PDF) 
• Specimen Content of statutory declaration made by a work experience student for a period of exempt student employment (PDF)

(To make use of the following two forms, it is recommended to download the relevant PDF form, assess and input data with the latest version of Acrobat Reader. The fillable PDF form may encounter operation problems using browsers.)

• Specimen Confirmation of "student intern" status (Fillable PDF Form) (PDF)
• Specimen Confirmation of student status for "work experience student" (Fillable PDF Form) (PDF)

Employees with disabilities:

• Concise Guide to Productivity Assessment for Employees with Disabilities under the Statutory Minimum Wage Regime
  • Chinese (PDF)
  • English (PDF)
  • Bahasa Indonesia (PDF)
  • Tagalog (PDF)
  • Thai ภาษาไทย (PDF)
  • Hindi हिंदी (PDF)
  • Nepali नेपाली (PDF)
  • Urdu اردو (PDF)
  • Sinhala සිංහල (PDF)
• Support Kits on Productivity Assessment for Employees with Disabilities under the Statutory Minimum Wage Regime
  • Support Kit for Employees with Disabilities
  • Support Kit for Employers
• Revision of Statutory Minimum Wage Rate: Notes for Employees with Disabilities and Employers (PDF) 

• Article titled "Statutory Minimum Wage-Rights of Employees with Disabilities and Productivity Assessment" (PDF)