Civil servants donning face masks enter the Central Government Complex on March 2, 2020. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)
HONG KONG – The Hong Kong government announced on Tuesday that pay for the city’s 180,000 civil servants would be frozen for the second year in a row.
The decision was made after taking into consideration net pay trend indicators, local economic situation, changes in the cost of living, the government’s fiscal position and civil service morale. The adjustments will be retrospectively effective from April 1.
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“In arriving at this decision, the Chief Executive-in-Council has thoroughly considered the staff side's response to the pay offers and other relevant factors under the established annual civil service pay adjustment mechanism,” a spokesman for the Civil Service Bureau said in a statement.
The government has informed the staff side representatives of the four central consultative councils and representatives of the four major service-wide staff unions of the decision. “We will brief the Legislative Council Panel on Public Service on June 21,” according to the statement.
In a letter to all government workers earlier, Secretary for the Civil Service Patrick Nip Tak-kuen said freezing the pay is a tough decision to make and could be disappointing, but it is needed as Hong Kong is faced with challenging economic situation and budget pressure.
The chief executive and executive councilors are grateful for the hard work by the city’s civil servant during the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest over the past two years, Nip said.
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