All Hong Kong civil servants to receive 3% pay rise, below rates recommended in pay trend survey

Hong Kong’s key decision-making body has approved a 3 per cent pay rise for all civil servants this year, falling short of the rates recommended in a recent pay trend survey.

Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan said on Tuesday the Executive Council had made a “balanced decision” which took into account the city’s budgetary constraints.

“The government is still facing a fiscal deficit this financial year and a dip in our reserves. We have to adhere to the principle of financial prudence. The Exco has sufficiently considered these factors when deciding on the pay rise,” Yeung said.

“We note that the pay offer is in some way behind the net pay trend survey indicators, but as a whole we believe this is an appropriate decision for this year.”

The survey findings announced last month, based on pay trends at 113 private companies covering 134,376 employees over the past year, suggested increments of 4.01 per cent for high-ranking civil servants, 4.32 per cent for middle-level ones and 5.47 per cent for junior workers.

But human resources experts have said the findings fail to reflect the commercial reality, in which salaries have risen between 3.3 per cent and 3.5 per cent this year.

The decision over pay adjustments for civil servants takes into account six factors: the city’s economic growth, increased cost of living, trends in the private labour market, the government’s fiscal situation, the wishes of staff and civil service morale.