XN000022-1995-07-18 — Page 11

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The wage indices for wholesale, retail and import/export trades, restaurants and hotels and for financing, insurance, real estate and business services showed increases in real terms between March 1994 and March 1995.

The wage indices for the manufacturing sector, transport services and personal services recorded decreases of different magnitudes in real terms. Nevertheless, these decreases were affected to some extent by a high base of comparison in March 1994.

Year-on-year changes in the indices of payroll per person engaged and wage indices for selected major sectors, in both nominal and real terms, are shown in Table 1 and Table 2 respectively.

Statistics on average payroll per person engaged are compiled at quarterly intervals based on the results of the Labour Earnings Survey conducted by the Census and Statistics Department.

The wage indices are compiled from the same survey at half-yearly intervals for March and September of the year. The wage indices cover both manual and non- manual workers up to the supervisory level.

Average payroll includes wages as well as all other irregular receipts such as bonuses and overtime payments. Statistics on average payroll tend to show larger quarter-to-quarter changes, affected by the number of hours actually worked and the timing of payment of bonuses and back-pay.

Detailed breakdowns of the above statistics are published in the "Quarterly Report of Employment, Vacancies and Payroll Statistics, March 1995" and the "Half- yearly Report of Wage Statistics, March 1995". They will be available shortly. at $44 and $35 per copy respectively, at the Government Publications Centre, Queensway Government Offices, Low Block, Ground Floor, 66 Queensway, Hong Kong and at the Publications Section of Census and Statistics Department, 19the floor, Wanchai Tower, 12 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong.

For enquiries about statistics on average payroll per person engaged, please contact the Census and Statistics Department on tel 2582 5076. As for enquiries on wage statistics, please call the department at 2582 4744.