Civil servants 'unhappy with pay'

Many civil servants are not satisfied with their salaries, a survey by People's Daily has found.

The survey was taken in Beijing, Hebei and Shanxi provinces and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. More than a dozen civil servants at grassroots level were interviewed at length and most were unhappy with their pay.

Earlier this year, a Party chief in a town in southern China complained to the media that a migrant worker was earning more than he was.

A survey conducted in April by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences found that the average income of Chinese civil servants is a little below the average wage and that in some places salaries for basic-level civil servants have not been raised for 10 years.

However, despite the relatively low salaries, the public argued that civil servants enjoy substantial welfare benefits as well as illegal incomes and other privileges.

Since the Communist Party of China launched a campaign against bureaucracy and excessive official spending in late 2012, many civil servants "off-the-books" incomes have vanished.

An article in 21st Century Business Herald said that until civil servants' sources of illegal incomes are eliminated their protests about low salaries will win little public sympathy.

A salary increase, with priority being given to civil servants in remote regions and at grassroots level, is being considered.