The two-decade-old requirement that civil servants' pay match that of counterparts in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) looks set to be dropped.
The change is one of the provisions contained in the draft Public Servants Law being scrutinised by the National People's Congress Standing Committee.
Hu Guangbao, deputy director of the NPC's legal department, was quoted by Xinhua yesterday as saying that some Standing Committee members considered the big variations in the pay of SOEs' employees nowadays made it very difficult to use them as a benchmark for public servants' pay.
Liu Taigang , associate professor of administration at Renmin University in Beijing, said it would be difficult to compare directly public servants' remuneration and that of their SOE counterparts.
'Increases in civil servants' pay will come under close scrutiny by the public ... as many people consider that they have other, 'hidden' income,' he said.
Professor Liu supported the scrapping of the pay link, saying the measure would allow more flexibility in determining civil servants' pay.