Number of Hong Kong civil servants in their 30s quitting jobs triples over 5 years
- Official figures show 1,299 civil servants aged 30 to 39 quit last year, making up 35 per cent of resignations from service
- Departures by government branch shows police and Department of Health logged highest number of resignations at 313 and 297
The number of Hong Kong civil servants in their thirties who have quit their jobs has more than tripled over the past five years to almost 1,300, with the age group accounting for the most number of resignations among the 174,000-strong service in 2022.
A Post analysis of official figures provided to legislators also revealed significant surges in the number of staff resigning from the government’s immigration, education and health departments over the five-year period.
Li Kwai-yin, president of the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants’ Association, said staff members in their thirties who had left were most likely pursuing jobs in the private sector or had emigrated.
“They may want to cash out contributions to their civil service provident fund to emigrate,” she said. “Companies in the private sector are also willing to offer better pay to attract them to join, as they have also been short of manpower in recent years.”
According to the bureau, 1,299 civil servants aged 30 to 39 left their jobs during the 2021-22 financial year, accounting for 35 per cent of the 3,734 who quit.
The number of resignations among the age group also increased by more than three times from the 402 recorded in 2017-18.
The figures showed 485 civil servants aged 50 to 59 quit their jobs in the last financial year, more than triple the 157 recorded five years earlier. The rate increased by almost five times among those aged 40 to 49 over the period, rising from 185 to 899.
The lowest increase in resignations over the five years was among civil servants aged 20 to 29, which rose 71.2 per cent from 571 to 978.
The government told lawmakers that those leaving the civil service had cited reasons such as health conditions, family issues, study or new employment opportunities for why they were leaving.
Breaking down the figures according to government branches showed police recorded the highest number of resignations in the 2021-22 financial year, at 313. The figure accounted for about 1 per cent of the more than 31,000 civil servants in the force. .
The second-hardest hit branch was the Department of Health, where 297 employees decided to throw in the towel.
Those leaving the department included 39 dentists, making up 13.4 per cent of all such medical practitioners there and contributing to an ongoing personnel shortage in the public sector.
Dr David Lam Tzit-yuen, a lawmaker representing the medical and health services sector, said it would be difficult to determine the exact reasons for all the departures and precisely gauge the impact they would have.
“Could it be the heavy workload? During the pandemic, those who worked the hardest were the frontline staff,” Lam said. “Now it is easier to look for jobs, and it is not surprising to see they have left.”
The data also revealed the number of staff who had resigned from the Immigration Department had surged to more than 150 in 2020-21 compared with 59 the 12 months before.
The Education Bureau recorded 189 resignations, an increase of nearly 150 per cent from the 76 during the previous year.
The number of people who quit RTHK and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department more than tripled, recording 42 and 252 resignations, respectively.
Wong Kin-ho, chairman of the Hong Kong Education Workers Union and a secondary school vice-principal, also attributed the surge of resignations to the emigration wave, as well some teachers’ reluctance to take a required pledge of allegiance to the government following the implementation of the national security law in 2020.
“Some of the teachers in the government schools may hold different political views from the government, they may choose to leave,” he said.
Wong said some veteran teachers working in government schools sent their children overseas using an education allowance and they might now choose to resign and retire early as their children had graduated overseas.
“Their children may tend to stay in the UK after graduation and not return to Hong Kong, so the teachers working in the government schools may want to retire early and emigrate there to stay with their kids,” he said.
But civil servants who are appointed on or after August 1, 1996, are not entitled to the benefit.
