Lawmaker and deputy chairman of Legco’s panel on public service, Nixie Lam, on Tuesday welcomed the proposed two percent pay rise for the city’s 170,000 civil servants, describing the approach as cautious and balanced.

She said the proposed pay hike strikes a balance between sustainability in public finances and civil service performance and fits the overall social climate.

She pointed out that a volatile geopolitical landscape and external risk factors could directly impact Hong Kong’s economy and society, adding the SAR government needs to invest heavily in the coming years in various development projects and improving livelihoods.

Therefore, she said, public finances must adhere to the principles of exercising fiscal prudence, keeping expenditure within the limits of revenue to consolidate the city’s financial foundation and reserve strength for long-term development.

However, the proposed two percent pay rise came as a surprise to Roy Ying, co-chair of the advocacy and policy research committee at the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management.

The human resources expert said his group expected a 3.5 percent pay rise based on their earlier survey of major employers.

“I believe it will be seen as disappointing to certain civil servants, but I believe for the junior roles, the impact is not that high,” he said.

"Because most of their jobs have not been maxed out in terms of their annual increments, so the net increase that they get is probably not that much lower than the private sector.”

Ying added that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and statutory bodies, which tend to follow government pay adjustments, may see their senior staff headhunted by private sector firms.  

“The groups that I think are more vulnerable are the NGOs and the statutory bodies, because they tend to follow the government pay adjustments, yet they do not have the same annual increments,” he said.

“For those who are in more senior roles, they may see that their salaries are becoming less and less attractive, especially compared with the private sector. And you never know when a headhunter calls, that's when they will probably want to start looking elsewhere."



Edited by Tony Sabine