Hong Kong’s largest civil service union backs proposed pay rise of up to 5.47%, points to staffing shortage

Hong Kong’s largest civil service union has backed a proposed increase in government employees’ salaries of up to 5.47 per cent, saying it met expectations given an ongoing personnel shortage and staff’s hard work.

Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants’ Association secretary general Tsoi Koon-lung on Friday also lauded members of the profession for being swift and innovative in recent years, noting for example their work in analysing more than 10,000 submissions during a consultation for the now-enacted Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.

The government on Thursday received the latest pay trend survey, which covers the salaries of 134,376 employees at 113 private companies over the past year.

The report proposed increasing the pay of high-ranking civil servants by 4.01 per cent, middle-tier staff by 4.32 per cent and lower-ranking employees by 5.47 per cent.

“The indicators matched our expectation as Hong Kong has been suffering from a worker shortage, particularly among low-skilled occupations,” Tsoi told a radio programme.

He attributed the trend to an emigration wave among professionals and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in recent years.

He added that many private companies were now offering competitive packages to fill their own vacancies.