Civil Service Secretary Ingrid Yeung on Wednesday said the government's financial situation doesn't allow it to give staff pay rises as high as levels indicated by the latest pay trend survey.

On Tuesday, the Executive Council approved a proposed 3 percent increase for all civil servants, after the survey pointed to rises of between 4.01 and 5.47 percent.

Yeung said on RTHK that the decision to give an across-the-board rise wasn't made out of convenience, and many factors were considered, including a budget deficit.

"Under such a situation, we hope the pay rise can be a form of recognition of the work of civil servants, regardless of which grade they belong to," she said.

"We also hope to maintain everyone's morale, or go even further and boost morale. We think this is the appropriate level."

On the same programme, the chairman of the Civil Servants General Union, Fung Chuen-chung, said people who think civil service pay should be frozen because of the deficit are missing the point.

"I think there's an important point that society at large has overlooked. For quite some time, there's been a high turnover rate for civil servants. It's also very hard to hire new people," he said.

"So [the proposed 3 percent rise] hasn't taken these important factors into account."

Fung said lower-ranking civil servants are particularly disappointed, because the survey pointed to a 5.47 percent increase for them.

Yeung said she understands that such workers had hoped for more, but said in 18 of the past 31 years, lower-ranking workers received the same increases as middle-ranking staff, even when the survey indicated smaller rises.

An honorary chairman of the Senior Government Officers Association, Lee Fong-chung, also expressed disappointment that the proposed rise doesn't match the pay trend survey levels, but said at least it will help staff cope with inflation.