About 2,800 civil service posts will be open for recruitment in the coming financial year after Mr Tsang announced on Wednesday that the two-year-old general recruitment freeze would end next month.
Secretary for Civil Service Joseph Wong Wing-ping said the decision to lift the recruitment freeze followed success in containing the size of the civil service and the change in departmental culture.
'From now on, heads of departments can follow the normal recruitment procedures and fill their vacancies,' Mr Wong said.
He said the new posts would be divided broadly into three categories - 1,200 posts in the disciplined services; 1,000 in professional and technical grades; and 600 in other clerical and general grades.
Of the 1,200 posts in the disciplined services, 560 are estimated to be at the grades of inspector of police or junior police officer, 240 will be for immigration officers or immigration assistants, while 160 will be for Customs officers.
Of the posts in professional and technical grades, 460 are estimated to be for teachers while 130 will be for medical and health officers. Of the other civilian posts, it is predicted that there will be 60 openings for administrative officers and 120 for executive officers.