(HUANG XIAOYONG)

A bustling street in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, on May 12.

The annual survey by the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resources Management found 93.3 percent of companies interviewed gave employees a pay rise in 2010, compared to 31.1 percent last year. The average rise was 1.7 percent, 1.2 percentage points higher than the figure recorded for January 2009, the survey found.

Pay rises are usually awarded in Hong Kong every January.

Hong Kong's unemployment rate has fallen from a peak of 5.5 percent of the workforce in 2009 to 4.4 percent presently.