Kwun Tong replaces Sham Shui Po as poorest district in Hong Kong again with median household income of HK$22,100
- Residents in Central and Western district, followed by Wan Chai and Sai Kung, top latest income figures in population census
- Manpower crunch and three years of pandemic curbs blamed for shifting trend
Kwun Tong has replaced Sham Shui Po as the poorest district in Hong Kong, with the latest statistics showing a median household income of HK$22,100 (US$2,815) for residents there last year, almost 30 per cent lower than the overall average.
Central and Western district continued to top the income chart, followed by Wan Chai and Sai Kung, with each family from these areas earning a median of more than HK$40,000 monthly, 30 per cent higher than the citywide mark.
Observers on Tuesday pointed to a manpower crunch and the effects of the pandemic over the past three years as factors leading to the new figures. Kwun Tong had been ranked lowest from 2017 to 2021.
The numbers were part of a population report released by the Census and Statistics Department on Monday. Hong Kong’s median household income in 2022 stood at HK$28,300 – an HK$800, or 2.9 per cent, increase from 2021.
Despite the improvement, the figure is still lower than 2019’s HK$29,000 mark in pre-Covid times.
Dr Thomas Yuen Wai-kee, assistant professor of the department of economics and finance at Hong Kong Shue Yan University, said the manpower crunch across various sectors had a role to play in the latest statistics.
“When there is a labour shortfall employers need to pay more to hire people, that’s why the overall household income has increased, but they can hardly offer pre-Covid salaries as the economic pie is not big enough,” he said, pointing to a sluggish economy in the early stages of a post-pandemic recovery.