Public Service

Research Office Legislative Council Secretariat

ISSH10/19-20

Recruitment and turnover of civil servants

Figure 1 – Number of civil service vacancies(1), (2) Highlights

2019 10 255 (5.9%)  The Government is the largest employer in . As at end-June 2019, the 2016 8 819 (5.3%) number of civil servants reached 175 000, accounting for about 4.4% of the labour force in Hong Kong. Due mainly to 2013 (3.9%) 6 192 increased retirement and creation of new posts in recent years, the number of 2010 5 919 (3.8%) civil service vacancies has kept rising to 4 000 8 000 12 000 10 255 as at June 2019 (Figure 1),

Notes: (1) Excluding posts pending deletion and posts held by temporary representing an increase of 73% compared staff or reserved for other staff. Data for 2019 is as at June to 2010 and being the highest since 1990. while the rest as at year end. By contrast, job vacancies in the (2) Figures in ( ) show vacancies as % of the strength of civil service. private sector only climbed 53% over the

Figure 2 – Resignation rate of civil servants period of 2010-2019.

(%)  While new post creation and retirement 1.0 are the primary factors contributing to rise 0.8% 0.8 in civil service vacancies, there has been an 0.65% 0.55% uptick in the number of resignations from 0.6 0.45% the sector. More than 1 300 civil servants

0.4 resigned in 2017-2018. This represented Resignees as % of civil servants a resignation rate of 0.8%, which was 0.2 markedly up from 0.45% in 2011-2012 (Figure 2). According to the Government, 2011-2012 2013-2014 2015-2016 2017-2018 over 60% of the resignees in 2017-2018

were in their probation period. Figure 3 – Top five bureaux or departments ("B&D") in terms of resignation in 2017-2018  Analyzed by bureaux or departments, the

Department of Health had the highest Department Resignation Rate No. of resignees resignation rate, which amounted to 1.45% (%)(1) of its workforce in 2017-2018 (Figure 3). 1 Department of Health 1.45 87 This was followed by the Bureau 2 Government Secretariat: 1.19 60 and the Leisure and Cultural Services 3 Leisure and Cultural 1.11 99 Department, both of which had the Services Department resignation rates higher than the overall 4 0.90 300 average of 0.8%. The Hong Kong 5 Food and Environmental 0.74 74 Police Force saw the most number of Hygiene Department resignations at 300, accounting for 23% of ….. …. …. 1 333 resignations. Based on the ….. …. …. government information, of the Overall (all B&D) 0.80 1 333 300 resignees, 238 were Junior Note: (1) Resignees as % of the strength of the bureau/department. Police Officers.

Recruitment and turnover of civil servants (cont'd)

Figure 4 – Reasons for declining civil service offers Highlights

Annual average appointments: 11 000 Decline rate  Recruitment is another indicator of the 2017-2018 38 27 9 8 18 14% attractiveness of civil service jobs. Between 2011-2012 and 2017-2018, some 2015-2016 14% 34 28 7 6 25 11 000 appointments were offered every year

2013-2014 34 30 10 5 21 15% and the job decline rate remained stable at about 14%-15%. Remaining in the current job 2011-2012 27 33 8 7 25 15% was the most cited reason of declining job offer by suitable candidates, with its share increasing 0% 50% 100% from 27% in 2011-2012 to 38% in 2017-2018 Remaining in current job Taking up another civil service job (Figure 4). Meanwhile, the proportion of those Taking up a job in private sector Marriage/ family reasons declining offer due to taking up another Others (study, medical reason, etc.) civil service job has contracted to 27%.

The observations might somewhat indicate Figure 5 – Applications for AO and EO grades increased consideration of candidates when being offered a civil service job. EO AO  Administrative Officers ("AOs") and

29 000 Executive Officers ("EOs") are, respectively, (120) professional administrators and managers who 23 000 20 000 (150) play a key role in the Government. While the (120) has attached importance to the hiring of AOs and EOs through an annual 19 000 15 000 13 000 (40) recruitment exercise, the number of applicants (48) (30) for both grades has fallen noticeably since 2016-2017 (Figure 5). Whether the trend will 20142014/15-2015 20152015/16-2016 20162016/17-2017 20172017/18-2018 20182018/19-2019 continue into 2019-2020 remains to be seen. Note: Figures in ( ) indicate recruitment target for that year.  In 2018-2019, the percentage of AO grade Figure 6 – Percentage of AO and EO grades leaving leaving the service surged to 4.1% and that of EO the service grade also exhibited a mild growth (Figure 6). (%) According to the Government, 37% of AOs' 5 departures in 2018-2019 were due to 4.1% retirement, while 63% left their job owing to 4 reasons such as resignation and completion of 3% 3.4% agreement. The rather high proportion of AOs 3 leaving the job for non-retirement reason may 2 give rise to the concern over talent retention. 2% 1 AO EO

Data sources: Latest figures from the Civil Service Bureau and the 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 Census and Statistics Department.

Research Office Information Services Division Legislative Council Secretariat 11 November 2019 Tel: 3919 3585

Statistical Highlights are compiled for Members and Committees of the Legislative Council. They are not legal or other professional advice and shall not be relied on as such. Statistical Highlights are subject to copyright owned by The Legislative Council Commission (The Commission). The Commission permits accurate reproduction of Statistical Highlights for non-commercial use in a manner not adversely affecting the Legislative Council, provided that acknowledgement is made stating the Research Office of the Legislative Council Secretariat as the source and one copy of the reproduction is sent to the Legislative Council Library. The paper number of this issue of Statistical Highlights is ISSH10/19-20.

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