In a move announced by the Civil Service Bureau on June 11th, the Chief Executive, together with the Executive Council, has decided to uniformly raise the salaries of all civil servants by 3%, with the effective date retroactively set to April 1, 2024.
The bureau noted that the Chief Executive and the Executive Council have taken into full consideration the responses from the employee side regarding the salary adjustment proposal, as well as other relevant factors under the established annual civil service salary adjustment mechanism. These factors include the economic situation in Hong Kong, the government’s financial condition, changes in living costs, salary trend net index, and the morale of civil servants.
The Civil Service Bureau stated that due to the government facing a fiscal deficit, it must carefully handle the adjustment of civil servants’ salaries. At the same time, with a tight labor market, the vacancy rate for civil service positions continues to rise to about 10%, and civil servants at all levels have taken on additional responsibilities. Moreover, in the past year, there has been actual economic growth, and prices and salaries in the private sector have also increased. After balancing various factors, the Chief Executive and the Executive Council decided to uniformly increase civil servants’ salaries by 3%.
The government will promptly submit the proposal for the adjustment of civil servants’ salaries to the Legislative Council Finance Committee for consideration.