This Wednesday (May 18), the Salary Research and Investigation Unit under the Joint Secretariat of the Advisory Committee on Civil and Judicial Salaries and Conditions of Service submitted the 2022 Pay Trend Survey Report to the Pay Trend Survey Commission, and the Civil Service Bureau has also Table to preliminary results.
According to the survey results, the 111 private companies that participated in the survey gave lower-, middle- and upper-level employees overall pay increases of 3.20%, 5.58% and 8.30% respectively between April 2021 and April 2022.
Starting from 2019-2020, the authorities will generally deduct civil servants' salary increment expenditure from the above-mentioned figures of the "Master Pay Trend Indicator" to arrive at the "Net Pay Trend Indicator" applicable within the government. The result calculated this year is Increase by 2.04% for low level, 4.55% for middle level and 7.26% for high level.
If the salary increase of senior civil servants is adopted in the future, if the "net pay trend indicator" is adopted, it will hit a new high since the return.
It's normal to be fat and thin
In fact, in the past 20 years or so, whether it is the "net index" of the civil servants of the Hong Kong government or the "total index" of the employees of private companies, most of the time the figures show that the salary increase of the senior ranks is higher than that of the lower ranks.
Those years where exceptions occur, such as 2002, 2009 and 2021, often have a background of special events or financial crises in the previous year, which will lead to a larger reduction in top-level compensation than low-level pay.
It can be seen that the "fat and thin" in Hong Kong's social salary has almost become the norm.
Of course, it must be pointed out that the Government, the largest employer in Hong Kong, has made certain efforts to reverse the relevant phenomenon.
For example, since the 1988 report issued by the Bo Hongzhi Committee, the Hong Kong government has basically raised the salary increase rate of low-level civil servants to the same level as that of the middle-level in accordance with its recommendations.
Nevertheless, there are times when the extreme situation in 2015 occurs - not only does the "net index" of civil servants reverse the situation that the "total index" of private companies originally increased the salary of low-level employees more than the top, but the actual increase of high-level civil servants was later than the "net index". Indicators" are more favorable.
Income is in urgent need of secondary distribution
In recent years, there has been some criticism that the salary increase of high-level government civil servants is higher than that of low-level and middle-level officials, which is mainly due to their unsatisfactory performance.
As shown by the survey results of salary trends, Hong Kong's social economy has been in such a situation of "fat and thin" for many years, and the rulers have almost done nothing to do this, and have not made efforts to carry out secondary distribution and alleviate the disparity between the rich and the poor. Aroused public disgust.
The mainland has advocated "common prosperity" in recent years. President Xi Jinping once explained that its general idea includes "expanding the proportion of middle-income groups, increasing the income of low-income groups, and rationally adjusting high incomes... to form an olive-shaped distribution structure that is large in the middle and small at both ends." But judging from the performance of salary trends in Hong Kong, we may only be getting further and further away from this goal.
If the future rulers of Hong Kong intend to promote sustainable development and cooperate with national policies, this issue cannot be avoided any longer.
The new government needs a cross-departmental and structured policy research group reorganization plan. It is only for the sake of good governance and good governance. It also depends on candidates to get rid of the "iron rice bowl" mentality of civil servants and start with effective assessment of the directorate.
