Hong Kong public service struggles with 20% or more vacancies in some departments
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Hong Kong’s public service departments have almost 20,000 vacancies, with some having up to 20 per cent or more of posts unfilled. The Civil Service Bureau revealed that RTHK, the city’s public broadcaster, had the highest vacancy rate at 23.8 per cent, with 175 posts unfilled. The police force had the highest number of jobs available, with 6,837 vacancies, which is 17.9 per cent of its total establishment. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department registered a 20 per cent staff shortfall with 460 vacancies. The Education Bureau recorded a 15.6 per cent vacancy rate with 983 posts unfilled. The bureau stated that there were 19,744 vacancies, a 10.3 per cent vacancy rate, in November last year. An average of 5,100 civil servants are expected to retire every year over the next five financial years. The government will consider re-evaluating organizational structures if there are fundamental changes in job nature, tasks, and complexity, or if there are difficulties in recruitment and retention of talents. Over the 2022-23 and 2021-22 financial years, almost 4,000 civil servants from more than 200 departments resigned. The bureau explained that higher turnover rates in some departments were due to smaller departments with a small number of personnel leaving, such as retiring. Between 2018-19 and 2022-23, 1,124 public servants were punished with formal disciplinary action, including 524 cases involving serious misconduct. There were also 600 cases involving criminal convictions that required formal disciplinary action. Another 1,995 civil servants were disciplined for minor misconduct during the same period.
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