As the Hong Kong Public Service embarks on an internal recruitment and promotion process to fill senior posts left vacant by a wave of resignations, a new survey has found six out of 10 young people are unwilling to join the bureaucracy.
The findings of the survey by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups underscore the brain drain and low morale within the city’s Public Service as well as a lack of trust in the Government, analysts said.
It is the first public poll since the Government demanded its employees declare loyalty to the State and take an oath to confirm they would uphold the city’s Basic Law.
The survey was also conducted at a time when it was reported that 1,860 Public Servants had resigned in the 12 months to the end of March, including 21 higher-ranking administrative officials, which was a 23-year high.
According to the survey, 62.8 per cent of young people said they were no longer interested in the Public Service, citing reasons including political pressure, refusal to make the pledge of allegiance and reluctance to join the current Government.
However, 23 per cent said they still wanted to join the Government.
Meanwhile, Secretary for the Civil Service, Patrick Nip said two briefings on the internal recruitment of elite-level, policy-setting Public Servants had attracted nearly 700 participants.
Mr Nip said he felt “quite enthusiastic” about the new blood.
In response to journalists’ inquiries, the Civil Service Bureau declined to comment on whether the internal recruitment was in any way related to the reported brain drain.
Chair of the Hong Kong Senior Government Officers Association, Lee Fong-chung said the resignation rate was slightly higher in the past two years, but it was unfair to generalise the reason behind this.
“The political and societal changes in the last two years led to the work of Civil Servants being more politicised than before,” Mr Lee said.
“Not every Civil Servant might want to continue,” he said.
Hong Kong, 17 June 2021
