Dirty little secret of public service pay is a big cash bonanza
Here is the dirty little secret. When the Civil Service Bureau compares the public and private sectors for its pay survey every six years it looks only at cash compensation and fringe benefits paid in cash.
About 3,400 senior civil servants should get a pay rise of 3 per cent to narrow the earnings gap with their counterparts in the private sector, government advisers suggested in a report submitted to the chief executive yesterday.
Here is the dirty little secret. When the Civil Service Bureau compares the public and private sectors for its pay survey every six years it looks only at cash compensation and fringe benefits paid in cash.
But the bulk of civil service compensation is in the perks - housing, education, top-flight medical, dental and a long list of other goodies that you pay for directly in the private sector while in government you just give the bill to your boss.
The last time any proper measure was taken of the difference was 12 years ago when the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce commissioned a survey by pay specialists Watson Wyatt Worldwide.
This survey found that, on a like-for-like basis, incorporating all forms of compensation, civil servants were on average paid 229 per cent more than their private sector equivalents.