How to become a street vendor

Official title: Street vendors (excluding food)

Also called: Hawker, Newspaper vendor, Pedlar

Street vendors (excluding food) sell a usually limited range of goods (excluding food for immediate consumption) in streets and public places such as stations, cinemas or theatres.

Main tasks

• Buying or receiving items for sale, or making simple items
• Loading and unloading baskets, trays, pushcarts, bicycles, hand-trucks or other vehicles, to transport goods to the streets or public places such as stations or cinemas
• Displaying goods or calling out to attract customers’ attention
• Approaching potential customers on streets, or by going from house to house, to offer goods for sale
• Receiving immediate payment

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.

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Questions people ask

Do you need a degree to become a street vendor?

Usually not. Only 6% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

Will AI change the work of a street vendor?

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