Civil Servants’ Resignations Intensify in Hong Kong, a Record High Since 1997

Civil servants on their way to the Hong Kong government. Sung Pi-lung/The Epoch Times

After the anti-extradition movement and the implementation of the compulsory oath of allegiance for civil servants, the wave of civil servants leaving the organization in Hong Kong intensified.

In its latest reply to Legco members’ questions on the “Budget 2023-24,” the Civil Service Bureau revealed that the number of resignations in 2021-22 has reached a new high since the handover of sovereignty in 1997, with 3,734 civil servants resigning, doubling the 1,863 in 2020-21, and is nearly three times more than the 1,333 recorded in 2017-18.

It shows the number of people leaving the civil service has increased nearly three times within five years, and the resignation rate reached 2.1 percent. Among them, civil servants who are close to retirement age and decided to leave early are more than double that of the previous year (2020-21).

In his latest reply, the Permanent Secretary for Civil Service, Clement Leung Cheuk-man, mentioned that civil servants’ resignations are due to a number of reasons, including health or family reasons, further studies, and job change, among others, but did not specifically mention the emigration trend.

However, on July 29, 2022, in an exclusive interview with the pro-establishment media “Headline Daily,” Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan, Secretary for the Civil Service, did not deny that emigration is a factor for the increase in the turnover rate of civil servants.

Yeung said that people from Hong Kong had started emigrating more than one or two years. And as the overall job market was highly mobile, there existed a situation in which all trades and professions were scrambling for talent.

Near Retirement Age Resignations More Than Double That of Previous Year

Classified by age, among the civil servants who resigned within 2021-22, the single age group with the highest number is the 25-30 years old, reaching 800 people, followed by 675 aged between 30-35, with another 624 aged 35-40.

It is worth noting that among the civil servants who are about to reach retirement age, the number of resignations has also risen across the board—261 resigned between the ages of 50 and 55, 166 more than the previous year (2020-21); another 224 between 55 and 60 resigned, 142 more than the last time around, while also 70 people aged 60 to 65, 39 more than the year before.

According to government regulations, the retirement age for civilian grade officers employed on or after June 1, 2000, but before June 1, 2015, is 60 years old, while for disciplined services grade officers, it is 55 or 57. The retirement age for extended service grades is 65 for civilian grades and 60 for disciplined service grades. The retirement age for civilian grade officers employed on or after 1 June 2015 is 65.

The resignation of civil servants approaching the retirement age means that some civil servants who were hired before June 1, 2000, under the terms of entitlement to pensions, will lose their lucrative pensions after serving for a long time.

Divided by service time, the document revealed that in 2021-22, 1,443 civil servants resigned before the end of the probationary period; another 1,250 have served for ten consecutive years but resigned before reaching the normal retirement age.

Some Legco members asked about the number of civil servants who resigned according to the master pay scale (MPS) or equivalent salary in the past three years. However, the Civil Service Bureau responded that it did not collect the relevant figures by salary point, and the public had no way of knowing either the salary level of resigned civil servants or their ranks.

Police Had the Most Resignations at 313

In terms of numbers, the Police Force had 313 resignations in 2021-22, the highest among all government departments.

For the disciplined services as a whole, 697 people resigned in 2021-22, an increase from 575 and 490 in the past two years, 2019-20 and 2020-21.

As for other government departments, based on the number of manpower deployed, 15 people resigned from the Intellectual Property Department (IPD) in 2021-22, 11 more than in the previous year, accounting for 7.94 percent of its total workforce, the highest among all government departments.

Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) ranked second in the resignation rate, with 42 people resigning, two and a half times more than the 12 in the previous year, accounting for 5.53 percent of its total workforce.

RTHK has been purged by the government in recent years, especially during the reign of Patrick Li Pak-chuen as the Director of Broadcasting from March 2021.

After Li took office, he set up an editorial committee to review all program production. Among them, programs such as “Hong Kong Connection (formerly called The Common Sense),” “This Week,” and “Hong Kong Stories” were targeted, and all required his preview before broadcasting.

Li said at the time that the team had to submit a detailed proposal before shooting, and the committee would review it before production commences. During the filming period, the progress would also be closely monitored to ensure that the finished product was in line with the original proposal.

RTHK employees have resigned one after another after Li took office, including Wong Luk-ha, director of the public affairs department of the RTHKTV, Liu Wai-ling, producer of “Headline News,” Fong Hiu-shan, producer of “Hong Kong Stories,” Au Li-nga, assistant director of broadcasting, and producer of “Hong Kong Connection,” Li Ying-chit, and others.

At that time, it was reported that Li Ying-chit, who had won the Human Rights Journalism Award, was rejected by the management to report on the “June 4th” and “7.21” incidents and was ordered to only report on people’s livelihood issues, which finally prompted Li to resign.

At that time, RTHK stated that from March to May, after Patrick Li took office, a total of 18 civil servants left, 9 of whom resigned. According to the latest government data, the number of resignations in RTHK increased significantly in 2021-22.

129 Refused Mandatory Oath of Allegiance and Left Government

At the end of 2020, the Hong Kong government began oath-taking as one requirement of all civil servants. Both newly recruited and current civil servants need to sign a statement to support the “Basic Law,” pledge allegiance to Hong Kong, serve with all due faith in their duties, and be responsible to Hong Kong.

The Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Erick Tsang Kwok-wai, replied to the Legislative Council last year that a total of 129 civil servants ignored or refused to sign and return the statement without reasonable explanation.

The staff concerned have all left the government on or before the end of 2021 for reasons including termination of employment under the probationary terms of the Civil Service Regulations and orders to retire in the public interest under section 12 of the Public Service (Administration) Order, resign voluntarily, or be dismissed for violating discipline.

Wu Wang-jun, a former senior scientific officer of the Hong Kong Observatory who once stated that he resigned because of his refusal to take an oath, analyzed the problem of the loss of civil servants last year (2022).

He pointed out that the implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law and the oath requirement triggered a wave of resignations of civil servants. Even if they did not emigrate, resigned civil servants may also move to the private sector in Hong Kong.

He said at the time that he knew some civil servants who had taken the oath were also planning to resign and move overseas. But just because some things were still not in place, they could not resign in time before taking the oath.