Hong Kong payroll study calls for lowest pay rise for frontline civil servants since 2010
Recommendations, which still need government approval, call for lowest earners to receive a 2.85 per cent pay rise while highest earners would get 4.06 per cent increase
Hong Kong’s frontline civil servants are set to receive the lowest pay rise in nearly 10 years, despite a record government surplus, if results of an annual study are adopted.
The government study, which was submitted to the Pay Trend Survey Committee on Wednesday, recommended pay increases between 2.84 and 4.51 per cent, depending on an employee’s pay scale.
The highest earners would receive a 4.06 per cent pay increase, while the middle earners would see a 4.51 per cent rise and the lowest earners would get a 2.84 per cent rise – the lowest for frontline staff since 2010 when rises were 0.56 for the lowest and middle earners. Senior officers received a 1.6 per cent rise that year.
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This year’s recommendations received mixed reviews from civil service unions, who asked for 4 to 5 per cent rises after the government announced a HK$148.9 billion (US$18.97 billion) surplus for the 2017-2018 financial year.
Wilfred Wong Kam-pui, chairman of the pay committee, described the recommendations as “fairly good” when compared with the private sector. He said he hoped civil servants would receive them in a “positive” manner.
The proposed rises for the 2018-19 financial year were derived from a survey of pay trends at 112 private companies, covering 157,000 employees over a 12-month period to April 1 this year. The recommendations discounted annual civil service pay increments for seniority.
