19th January 2025 – (Hong Kong) The long-held Hong Kong dream that a university degree guarantees a prosperous future lies shattered on the altar of economic reality. A devastating new study conducted by the New Youth Forum reveals that university graduates’ median monthly income has actually decreased from HK$36,418 in 2003 to HK$35,071 in 2023 – a 3.7% drop that speaks volumes about the city’s broken social contract with its youth.
This isn’t just about numbers. It’s about a generation’s collapsing faith in education as the great equaliser. While their parents’ generation could reasonably expect a university degree to secure their future, today’s graduates face a perfect storm of declining salaries, astronomical housing costs, and an increasingly competitive job market that seems rigged against them.
While university graduates watch their earning power decline, those with only high school education have seen their median incomes rise by 24.9% over the same period. This isn’t just income stagnation – it’s educational devaluation on an unprecedented scale.
The psychological impact is devastating. According to the Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service’s latest mental health survey, 25.5% of secondary school students already show moderate to severe depression symptoms. Add to this the growing realisation that their academic struggles might not pay off, and we’re looking at a mental health time bomb.
While HKU graduates still command the highest starting salaries at HK$385,000 annually, this creates a toxic pressure cooker environment where students believe only the most prestigious universities can offer hope for financial security. The gap between these elite institutions and others is widening, turning education into a winner-takes-all game.
The housing crisis adds insult to injury. With residential property prices still among the world’s highest despite recent declines, the average graduate would need to save every penny for over a decade to afford even a modest flat. The dream of home ownership – long considered a basic milestone of adult life in Hong Kong – has become a cruel joke for many young professionals.
More alarming is the “employment downgrade” phenomenon. The number of university graduates in low-skill positions has nearly tripled from 66,000 in 2003 to 194,000 in 2023.
The disparity between universities further compounds the crisis. While HKU graduates command annual salaries of HK$385,000, their peers at Lingnan University earn barely HK$238,000 – a gulf that transforms university selection from an educational choice into a life-defining gamble. This wage chasm creates an unbearable pressure cooker for secondary school students, forcing them to make career-defining decisions before they’ve even had a chance to discover their true interests or talents.
This crushing pressure manifests in alarming mental health statistics. The Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service’s recent survey paints a disturbing picture – barely a quarter of students report feeling well, while more than half constantly battle self-criticism. Yet it’s not just academic stress that plagues them; it’s the growing suspicion that even academic excellence might not secure their future. When only 26.3% of students report an ideal level of well-being, we’re witnessing more than individual struggles – we’re seeing the collapse of a generational promise.
The housing market looms over these concerns like a dark shadow. Despite the recent 13.02% year-on-year decrease in residential property prices, Hong Kong’s property market remains brutally unaffordable. For graduates earning the median monthly salary of HK$35,071, home ownership has become a distant dream rather than a realistic goal. Basic mathematics tells a cruel story – a modest 400-square-foot flat in an urban area, costing around HK$6 million, would require many graduates to save their entire income for nearly two decades just for a down payment.
Hong Kong’s narrow economic base only exacerbates these challenges. The city’s overwhelming focus on financial services and real estate has created a bottleneck effect, where diverse graduates compete for an increasingly narrow band of well-paying positions. This mismatch has spawned a phenomenon of qualification inflation, where jobs that once required only secondary education now demand university degrees – without corresponding increases in compensation or responsibility.
Yet solutions exist, though they demand fundamental restructuring of Hong Kong’s economic and educational landscape. The government’s plans for innovation hubs and the Northern Metropolis must move beyond rhetoric to reality, creating genuine opportunities for graduates across diverse fields. Universities must evolve beyond traditional academic metrics to emphasize practical skills and industry relevance, following the successful model of institutions like HKBU, whose graduates saw a remarkable 9.3% salary increase in 2023.
The housing crisis demands more than incremental changes – it requires a revolutionary approach to both public housing and private market accessibility for young professionals. Meanwhile, educational institutions must develop comprehensive support systems that address not just academic pressure but the mounting economic anxiety that shadows their students’ futures.
Recent data offers a glimmer of hope – the latest generation of graduates has managed to achieve historically high starting salaries, with median initial earnings reaching HK$18,957. However, this positive trend faces significant headwinds from global economic uncertainties and local challenges. The real question is whether Hong Kong can transform its economy rapidly enough to create opportunities that match its educational output.
With 6.6% of recent graduates either emigrating or returning to their home countries – the highest level since records began in 2003 – Hong Kong faces a potentially devastating brain drain. This exodus threatens to create a downward spiral, further undermining the city’s ability to diversify its economy and generate new opportunities for future graduates.
The devaluation of university degrees in Hong Kong represents more than an educational crisis – it’s a fundamental breach of the social contract. When young people lose faith in education as a path to prosperity, the very foundations of society begin to crack. Hong Kong must reimagine both its economic structure and educational system to provide genuine paths to prosperity for its youth. Without such transformation, the city risks not just its economic future, but its very identity as a land of opportunity.
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