How to become a garden and horticultural labourer

Official title: Garden and horticultural labourers

Also called: Garden labourer, Horticultural labourer, Lawn mower, Nursery labourer

Garden and horticultural labourers perform simple and routine tasks in operations to cultivate and maintain trees, shrubs, flowers and other plants in parks and private gardens, to produce saplings, bulbs and seeds, or to grow vegetables and flowers by intensive cultivation techniques.

Main tasks

• Loading, unloading and moving supplies, produce and equipment
• Preparing garden sites and plots using hand tools and simple machines
• Assisting with planting and transplanting flowers, shrubs, trees and lawns
• Maintaining gardens by watering, weeding and mowing lawns
• Cleaning gardens and removing rubbish
• Assisting with propagating, planting and potting seeds, bulbs and cuttings
• Tending plants by hand watering and weeding
• Harvesting and packaging plants for sale and transport
• Performing minor repairs on fixtures, buildings, equipment and fences

Ways in

• Qualifications Framework: Vocational Qualifications Pathway: Arboriculture & Horticulture. The Qualifications Framework publishes a Vocational Qualifications Pathway for the Arboriculture & Horticulture industry (樹藝及園藝), showing QF-recognised qualifications by level: https://www.hkqf.gov.hk/ah/en/vqp. Link between the industry and this job by Peernovo.

Pay · Outlook · AI and this job

• Median pay: HK$14,400 a month
• About 337,600 people in 2025, and about 334,700 projected by 2028. (-0.8%)
• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Related jobs

• Mixed crop and livestock farm labourers
• Livestock farm labourers
• Fishery and aquaculture labourers
• Crop farm labourers

Not sure this is for you? Take the 2-minute career quiz

Questions people ask

How do I become a garden and horticultural labourer?

Ways in include: Vocational Qualifications Pathway: Arboriculture & Horticulture.

Do you need a degree to become a garden and horticultural labourer?

Usually not. Only 2% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Ways in include: Vocational Qualifications Pathway: Arboriculture & Horticulture.

Will AI change the work of a garden and horticultural labourer?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Census and Statistics Department (2021 Population Census): 2021 Population Census, Interactive Data Dissemination Service: working population by occupation (38 groups) and sex, age, education, income; median income and field of education (9 groups) (2021 Population Census), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Census and Statistics Department (General Household Survey): Median monthly employment earnings by occupation (9 groups), excluding foreign domestic helpers (Table 210-06317A); employed persons by occupation, age and sex (210-06307A) and by industry (210-06308A) (2025 annual (series to 2026-07)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Census and Statistics Department (Annual Earnings and Hours Survey): Monthly and hourly wage percentiles by occupational group (5 groups) (Tables 220-23014, 220-23024, 220-23003) (2025 (May to June 2025), released 2026-03-23), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Labour and Welfare Bureau; tables published by C&SD: Mid-term Update of Manpower Projection to 2028: supplementary statistical tables (5 occupation groups, 17 selected industries) (2025 to 2028 (published 2026-09)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Updated 4 October 2026