There is no legal minimum wage in Hong Kong and the wage level prevailing is essentially determined by the economic forces of supply and demand. The Employment Ordinance (Chapter 57 of the Laws of Hong Kong) regulates the general conditions of employment and employment agencies, and for matters connected with.

Wages are calculated on hourly, daily, monthly, or piece rates while salaries are calculated on monthly basis.

Average Monthly Salaries of Supervisory, Technical, Clerical and Miscellaneous Non-Production Staff for September 1998 in the manufacturing and services sectors

Industry	Super - visory & Technical	Clerical & Secre - tarial	Service	Mis - cellaneous Non - Production
Manufacturing	US$1,865	US$1,377	-	US$1,031
Wholesale, retail & import / export trades, restaurants & hotels	US$2,014	US$1,408	US$1,331	US$1,081
Transport Services	US$2,389	US$1,503	US$754	US$1,279
Financing, insurance, real estate & business services	US$2,233	US$1,654	US$937	US$1,038
Personal Services	US$1,535	US$1,406	US$771	US$688

Source: Half-yearly Report of Wage Statistics (September 1998), Census & Statistics Department.

Wage rate - Basic wages/salaries, plus commission and tips, (tips received directly from customers are excluded), shift allowance, cost-of-living allowance, meal allowance and meal benefits, good attendance bonus, guaranteed year-end bonus and other regular and guaranteed bonus and allowances

Besides salaries and wages, there may other additional benefits. Such as medical allowance, subsidized meals, subsidized transport to and from work, free or subsidized accommodation, New-Year bonus (i.e. normally equal to one month's extra pay), paid rest-days (i.e. annual leave). Employees are also entitled under the Employment Ordinance to benefits such as statutory holidays, sick and maternity leave, severance and long-service payments.

The normal working period is Monday to Saturday. For non-office based industries, staff works for six full days. While in offices, staff commonly works on alternate Saturday mornings.

There are two kinds of public holidays in Hong Kong, they are respectively:

1. General holidays
   These are for banks, schools, public offices and government departments.
2. Statutory holidays
   There are 12 statutory holidays in total in 1999. These holidays must be all granted to employees as provided under the Employment Ordinance, including those working in banks and schools (except civil servants).

A privately managed, mandatory provident fund (MPF) system is going to implement in the near future. All members of the workforce between the ages of 18 and 65 with specific exemptions are covered in the system.
Both employers and employees are each required to contribute 5% of the employees' monthly cash income to a registered MPF scheme. For those employees whose monthly income is below HK$4,000 (US$513), they need not to contribute but may choose to do so. The maximum level of monthly income for contribution purposes is HK$20,000 (US$2,565).

Hong Kong has few industrial disputes. In case of a strike or other forms of industrial conflict, the Labour Department offers conciliation service to the parties concerned to facilitate an amicable settlement.