Editorial | Hong Kong civil service pay rise strikes right balance at time of uncertainty
- By opting for a 2.5 per cent increase across the board, the government has tried to keep staff, the private sector and taxpayers happy
Pay rises for civil servants are a hard sell, even more so amid a devastating pandemic. The issue is a complicated one for the new Hong Kong government, which is struggling to boost the morale of its 180,000 employees while facing opposition from the business sector and the wider community against hefty increases at a time of economic uncertainty and political tension.
Striking the right balance is essential.
The government believes it has done so. Instead of dovetailing the outcome of an official pay trend survey as usual to offer increases of 4.55 and 7.26 per cent depending on rank, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu and the Executive Council have opted for a 2.5 per cent rise across the board.
The offer may still fall short of the conflicting expectations of staff and society, but for the sake of harmony and stability, compromise is necessary.
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Officials said various factors had been considered, including the state of the economy, the government’s fiscal position and staff morale. The former is particularly tricky in that the situation was improving until the fifth wave of the coronavirus outbreak earlier this year.