Average and Median Starting Salaries for Social Workers

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) for each year in the past five years, what are the average and median starting salaries of a social worker; and (b) whether the Ministry intends to recommend higher salaries for social workers.

Mdm Speaker, based on the Ministry of Social and Family Development's (MSF's) Manpower and Salary Survey which collected salary data of employees in the social service agencies (SSAs) in 2015, 2017 and 2019, the monthly mean salary of entry-level social workers increased from $3,500 in 2015 and 2017, to $3,600 in 2019, while their monthly median salary increased from $3,400 in 2015 and 2017, to $3,600 in 2019. The figures are comparable with the salaries for all fresh graduates, including those without a Social Work Degree, in those years, based on the Graduate Employment Survey (GES) conducted by the Autonomous Universities.

MSF and the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) are committed in guiding the sector to pay competitive salaries for all social service professionals, including social workers. NCSS publishes sector salary guidelines for a range of professions in the social service sector. The guidelines are updated annually to keep pace with competing market and general wage movements. The majority of SSAs adopt the guidelines and we strongly encourage SSAs to adhere to these guidelines to reward and retain good staff.

Madam, I thank the Minister for the reply, but could I ask the second part of the Parliamentary Question, which is whether MSF will be proposing increases to the salaries of social workers in the next financial year? And second, I am sure they are not in it for the money, but I think a good salary would help in terms of retaining social workers where I think there is a problem. So, could I ask MSF what else it is doing to retain social workers?

As I mentioned to the Member and the Members of this House, the guidelines are updated annually to keep pace with a competing market, so it is not just about the competition between SSAs, but also competition for qualified staff that will move out of the sector to other sectors too.

Therefore, we want to make sure that it is at the level, which commensurate with the skills and the market competition that these graduates or social workers can face. I think we should not get ahead of ourselves and we should not intervene with market forces, unless it is drastically bad for our social workers. Even when we do, we must know when to go out and not intervene all the time.