Carrie Lam to offer jobs to District Councilors who lost: Top three job with the best pay highlighted

(11 Dec) The Pro-Beijing camp was hit hard in the District Council Elections, and a large number of district councilors failed to be re-elected. Chief Executive Carrie Lam met with losers from Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU) on Dec 9.  Besides an apology in person, she said she had the intention to offer official positions to the losers in order to extend their influences in the districts. 

HK01 has checked such public data and information and it is found that the losers have been appointed in 112 committees for official positions, and many of these positions have good remuneration.  Some of them request members to attend meetings once to twice a month only, and the average monthly income reaches around HKD 20,000.  The yearly package of another official position offers around HKD 600,000.  The average monthly salary reaches HKD 5,000.  If a person can be appointed for both positions at the same time, the combined monthly income is almost equal to a full-time paid job with a median monthly income in Hong Kong.

A) Three types of official positions with a monthly remuneration of HKD 20,000 and a few meetings only can be classified as “decent” jobs in the public sectors below: 

Committee member of Electoral Affairs Commission (2 positions):

8 meetings in a year with a monthly remuneration of HKD 20,000 which is the median income of Hong Kong people aged 25 to 34.

Committee member of Communication Authority (10 positions): 

Same monthly remuneration of HKD 20,000 with more meetings up to 15 meetings in a year.

Committee member of Competition Commission (14 positions):

Monthly remuneration of HKD20,000 with only 8 meetings each year.

Committee member of Insurance Authority (8 non-executive directors):

Monthly remuneration is HKD 21,000 HKD with 13 meetings each year.

B) Others

Since there are special requirements for professional provisions and industry ethics for positions under the Insurance Authority and that meetings are unscheduled, not many people are fit for the positions of non-executive directors.

Urban Renewal Authority Board of Directors is the best available option. The annual remuneration is HKD65,000 for 6 meetings in a year.  The value of each meeting is HKD 10,800.  However, the average monthly salary is less than HKD 5,500.  It is a decent “part-time”.

The remuneration for a meeting is good.  Attractive packages for various committees under the Security Bureau are offered, such as the Appeal Board of the Civil Celebrants of Marriages.  There are 8 committee members.  The remuneration for half-day and full-day are HKD 2,420 and HKD 4,870 respectively.

Furthermore, various committees under the Treasure Bureau have similar remuneration including Market Misconduct Tribunal.  The remuneration of full-day and half-day are HKD 4,500 and HKD 2,250 respectively.

Another position requires members to attend 12 meetings in a year, it is however relatively not difficult.  It is from the Personalised Vehicle Registration marks audit committee under the Transport Department Hong Kong Licensing Office. Committee members include more than 100 people.  The remuneration of attending meetings is HKD 490 for each.  It is like a consolation prize for more beneficiaries.

An individual can be appointed to multiple official positions if lucky.  The person can be appointed to be a committee member of Electoral Affairs Commission with regular monthly remuneration of HKD 20,000, a Urban Renewal Authority Board of Director with monthly remuneration of HKD 5,000 and a non-executive director of Insurance Authority (one of the committees under the Treasure Bureau) to attend a meeting once a month.  The total monthly remuneration is around HKD 30,370, which is not far from the current monthly salary of HKD 32,150 for a district councilor.

Source: HK01