Civil servants could face a pay cut, survey shows

Civil service unions have called on the administration to introduce a pay freeze, after the latest report by the official Pay Trend Survey Committee suggested pay cuts of up to 2.04 percent for government staff.

The government-appointed panel on Tuesday recommended salary decreases of 0.68 percent for junior civil servants, 0.54 percent for middle-ranking workers, and 2.04 percent for senior staff, after taking into account salary movements in around 110 private companies over the past year.

The committee’s chairman, Lee Luen-fai, said the numbers from this year’s report show just how badly the city’s economy was affected by the pandemic.

He refused to be drawn on whether the government should go ahead with a pay cut, or introduce a pay freeze for a second year running.

Last year, the government froze salaries despite the committee recommending rises of up to 1.98 percent, with officials calling on government workers to help “ride out the difficult times”.

“Obviously nobody likes a pay cut… we are giving the numbers to the government, for it to decide whether it’s a pay rise, a freeze or a pay cut this year,” Lee told reporters after a committee meeting.

Both the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants’ Association and the Hong Kong Senior Government Officers Association called on the government to freeze pay for the benefit of staff morale.

“We don’t hope that civil service pay adjustments would start a trend of pay cuts in the private sector, and that would mean a further blow to local consumption,” Li Kwai-yin of the Chinese Civil Servants’ Association said.

In response, the Civil Service Bureau said the Chief Executive-in-Council will make a final decision after taking into account a basket of factors.

“These factors include … the state of Hong Kong’s economy, the Government’s fiscal position, changes in the cost of living, the pay claims of the staff side and civil service morale,” a government spokesman said.