The proposed increase is based on data collected from 111 private companies. In the past year for this sector, junior-, medium- and senior-ranking employees’ salaries had risen by 3.2, 5.58 and 8.3 per cent respectively.

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Discounting annual civil service pay increments for seniority, employees in the lower, middle and upper salary bands could get increases of 2.04 per cent, 4.55 per cent and 7.26 per cent respectively.

The lower salary tier refers to government staff earning less than HK$24,070 (US$3,066) a month. The middle band comprises those bringing home HK$24,070 to HK$73,775, while the upper band refers to senior workers earning more than that.

Under the projections, a senior civil servant is set for a monthly increment of more than HK$5,200 at least.

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The pay trends survey this year was sent to about 160 companies of different sizes, and about 70 per cent, or 111 firms hiring 130,000 people in all, responded by providing information on their salary changes from April last year to the same month this year.

Committee chairman Lee Luen-fai insisted the latest results were an objective, accurate and true reflection of the market situation and more positive because Hong Kong’s economy rebounded last year.

“Two years ago, the indicators showed a slight increase, while last year’s figures showed a slight drop. But they both resulted in the government freezing civil service pay. This year we see a clear increase because Hong Kong’s GDP grew by 6.4 per cent last year,” he said.

Lee also said the relatively high indicator at 8.3 per cent for the upper salary band in the private sector reflected how such companies used bonuses and other means to retain senior staff in the past year.

“Bonuses play an important role in employees’ additional pay … In the past year, the turnover of senior executives was quite high, so many private institutions have used bonuses as a means to retain staff,” Lee noted.

Hong Kong’s economy contracted by about 4 per cent in the first quarter this year as a fifth wave of coronavirus infections swept through the city. But Lee said the indicators had remained positive as many firms had decided in January to increase employees’ salaries.

Li Kwai-yin, president of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants’ Association, boycotted committee meetings in 2021 and did the same this year.

In 2020, the association had suggested that pay be frozen for three years, saying civil servants should not get more money when society was struggling under the pandemic and economic downturn. A pay cut at the time, the group also argued, would dampen civil servants’ morale.

Li on Wednesday said rather than raising senior civil servants’ pay by 7.26 per cent, it would be more appropriate to give them a moderate increase to counter inflation.

“I still think it was inappropriate for the survey to be done, and the indicators were not very meaningful. Instead of looking at the indicators, I hope the government can consider the city’s worsening inflation,” she said.

In February, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po predicted this year’s inflation rate would be about 2 per cent.

Alexa Chow Yee-ping, managing director of recruitment agency ACTS Consulting, said that while some private firms would follow the government’s pay trend, this year’s figures were “unrealistically high”.

“The survey results were influenced by the lavish bonuses that large corporations gave out … It could not reflect the misery of workers who did not suffer an actual pay cut, but were asked to take no-pay leave instead,” she said.

“As the government did not do well in containing the Omicron variant, and the unemployment rate may continue to go up, many residents will be unhappy if civil servants receive such a generous pay rise.”

Lee Fong-chung, chairman of the Hong Kong Senior Government Officers Association, said that while he still needed time to look into the details of the survey, he believed the mechanism and results should be respected.

Leung Chau-ting, chief executive of the Federation of Civil Service Unions, as well as unionist lawmakers Chau Siu-chung and Lam Chun-sing, said the government should give its workers an appropriate pay rise to boost morale.

The committee is expected to consult unions next Wednesday and finalise recommendations to the Civil Service Bureau. The Executive Council has to approve the final decision.

A bureau spokesman said it had received the tentative results of the survey, which served as one of six factors in determining civil servants’ pay.

Other factors included the economy, the government’s fiscal position, changes in the cost of living, pay claims from staff and civil service morale, he said.

“The chief executive-in-council will fully consider all relevant factors under the established annual civil service pay adjustment mechanism in determining the annual adjustment,” the spokesman added.