Hong Kong offers better jobs than Singapore, say expats

They also receive more competitive salaries at USD148,410 than Singapore expats at USD117,904.

Hong Kong outperforms both Singapore and Shanghai in terms of perception by its foreign talent as almost a fourth (24%) of expats believe that Hong Kong offers ‘fantastic job opportunities’ amongst other wide variety of factors that make it an attractive place to stay, according to HSBC Expat Explorer Survey. 

This is compared to only a fifth (19%) of expats who believe that Singapore offers fantastic job opportunities whilst only 16% cite Shanghai’s diverse employment offerings.

The average gross personal income of expats in Hong Kong is at USD148,410 which is significantly higher than the global average of USD99,903 but falls behind Shanghai and Mumbai who offer a mean wage of USD202,211 and USD 217, 165 respectively. 

More than half (58%) of expats also own more disposable income in Hong Kong than in their home country which is slightly higher than the global average of 57% and enabling them to avail of a higher quality of life abroad.

Expats also cite Hong Kong’s clean and safe public spaces, reliable and convenient transport system, great leisure facilities and restaurants as factors that boost Hong Kong’s liveability for foreign talent. However, only 26% of expats own property in Hong Kong which may be due to skyrocketing property prices in the area. 

A separate report confirms these findings as it crowned Hong Kong as the most attractive Asian country for expats and 12th in the world in 2017, besting the Mainland, close regional competitors like Japan and Korea and even the USA and UK.