All 535 Hong Kong government employees resigned after refusing to sign a declaration of allegiance to the Basic Law

All 535 full-time and part-time non-civil service contract employees in Hong Kong have resigned because they ignored, refused to sign or refused to hand in their declarations of oath to uphold the Basic Law and allegiance to the SAR. Secretary for the Civil Service of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Mrs Yeung Ho-Bei-yin, admitted that the number of civil servant vacancies in the Hong Kong government has reached 18,000 and the situation is “not ideal”.

The Hong Kong government requires government employees who join the job on or after July 1, 2020 and are hired on non-civil service terms to sign a statement supporting the Basic Law and allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as one of the conditions of employment.

According to reports from Hong Kong online media 01 and “Ming Pao”, the Secretary for the Civil Service of the Hong Kong Government, Yang Hebei-yin, stated on the 20th that 149 full-time non-civil service contract employees and 386 part-time non-civil service contract employees refused to sign the sworn statement. All relevant personnel have All leave the government.

Yang Hebeiyin said that some of the resigning personnel are due to the end of their contracts, and some have resigned or have been terminated by the government.

According to information from the Civil Service Bureau, a total of 9,468 full-time non-civil service contract employees were employed as of June 30 this year, a decrease of approximately 9,000, or approximately 49%, from the peak on June 30, 2006.

In addition to the significant reduction in the number of employees, Yang Hebeiyin pointed out that as of March 31 this year, the civil service establishment had approximately 192,000 positions, and the actual number of posts was approximately 174,000. There are 18,000 vacancies in the civil service establishment, which is not ideal. However, it is said that the resignation rate has slowed down and has not had a great impact on the operation of the Hong Kong government.

Data shows that a total of 10,126 civil servants resigned from the Hong Kong government from 2022 to 2023, of which 3,863 resigned. The resignation rate is the highest since the handover of sovereignty. Yang Hebei-yin said that 40% of those who resigned resigned within the three-year probation period. It is estimated that young people left because they wanted to gain different work experience. The Hong Kong government will do its best to retain talents and continue to attract and encourage people from different backgrounds to become civil servants.

Editor-in-Chief: Yu Weining