A major survey of pay trends in the Greater Bay Area has found that Hong Kong workers typically received lower increases than their counterparts on the mainland this year, though graduate salaries in the SAR remained higher.

The 2022 Greater Bay Area Pay and Benefits Survey, carried out by institutions in Hong Kong and on the mainland, found that employers in the SAR had granted an average pay rise of between 3 and 3.3 percent, compared to increases of between 4.5 and 5.2 percent in cities in Guangdong Province. Overall pay rates in Hong Kong remained higher, researchers said.

Meanwhile, figures showed that fresh graduates in Hong Kong could expect to start work on around HK$11,000 to HK$20,000 per month, compared with around HK$4,600 to HK$9,000 in Guangdong, though one of the researchers behind the study said wages shouldn't be the deciding factor in where to start a career.

"We should not only look at the basic pay. If you start a career, you need to look for opportunities," said Felix Yip, associate director at Baptist University's Centre for Human Resources Strategy and Development, which led the research.

"And then if you work in a stagnant market, you will not learn that much. You will not gain value from it. So with your participation or involvement in a wider market like going to the Guangdong province and get some work experience there, then it will be helpful for you to make more sensible decisions particularly in business."

Yip said he believed reopening the border would be a key driver for higher pay rates here.

"We urge the government to negotiate with the central government to relax our quarantine requirement so that we can get into the China market easier – because that should be the place and market for us to expand our business further," he said.

"That [average of] 3.2 percent, to me, is moderate. If we'd open the [border] earlier, I believe the percentage will be higher."

Speaking a day after Chief Executive John Lee announced plans in his Policy Address to attract mainland and overseas talent, Yip also urged the government to do more to retain local talent, such as developing innovative industries and providing more re-training opportunities.

Besides the Baptist University centre, the research group comprised the Research Centre for Human Resources Management at the South China University of Technology in Shenzhen, the Hong Kong People Management Association, and the Talent Development and Management Association of Guangdong.

Researchers spoke to 97 businesses across 11 sectors in Hong Kong, 158 firms in 10 sectors in Guangdong cities, and 26 enterprises in Macau between July and September.