June's average wage rate grew 3.9% in nominal terms over the same month last year, the Census & Statistics Department says.

About 67% of companies recorded increases in average wages, while 24% saw falls. The remaining 9% reported no change.

After discounting the rise in consumer prices as measured by the Consumer Price Index (A), the overall average wage rate for all major sectors surveyed fell 2.1% in real terms.

The index of payroll per person engaged for all major sectors surveyed rose 4.6%.

After netting out the effect of the rise in consumer prices as measured by the Composite Consumer Price Index, the average payroll per person engaged fell 1.1% in real terms.

For the nominal wage indices, year-on-year increases were observed in all selected major sectors in June, ranging from 0.7% to 4.7%. For the real wage indices there were year-on-year falls in all selected major sectors, ranging from 1.3% recorded in financing, insurance, real estate and business services to 5% recorded in personal services.

As for the nominal indices of payroll per person engaged, year-on-year increases were recorded in all major sectors in the second quarter ranging from 1% to 5.1%.