Some grass-roots civil servants question careers amid anti-graft campaign(2)

Before, the financial situation was much better. According to Jiang, seasonal and annual bonuses, as well as festival allowances granted by the government, made up of a third of his total income. All of those payments have been cut.

"First I support fully the new policy, since this cut has greatly reduced the great income gap among different bureaus," he said. Typically, the basic salaries of civil servants within a county are roughly similar, but extra bonuses and allowances can differ greatly between bureaus.

"Now the payments [between different bureaus] are coming into line with each other. But still, I think government has to improve payment for us grass-roots workers, otherwise our enthusiasm for our work will be affected," he said.

In South China's Guangdong Province, official resignations increased during the past two years, said Fan Songqing, a senior official in the city of Guangzhou, citing three cases of upper-level officials quitting since last August. Two took posts with private companies.

"I also heard of several other recent incidents where officials switched jobs. The reasons are complex. Some might be because of a fear of investigation, others might be for personal reasons, while others might be because of pay cuts or an increase in [on-the-job] pressure," Fan, who advocates declaration and disclosure of officials' assets, told the Global Times.

In January, Gu Taishan, a 30-year-old civil servant in a municipal government in Hunan Province, revealed his payment and that of his daughter, a civil servant in Beijing, in a post on an online forum.

The post showed that his monthly payment was 2,600 yuan, while his daughter earned no more than 3,600 yuan per month, of which she spent 2,300 yuan on rent.

Zhang Wei, 39, a judge in a Beijing court, shared his salary and resignation letter on his Weibo in July. "I can't wait any more. After 16 years, I have failed to attain the position, income and dignity I deserve in this career," he said. He resigned and has gone to work for a law firm in Beijing.

An anonymous discipline inspection chief in a government department in Shanghai said current incomes are indeed embarrassing for young staff workers trying to live a decent life in the city.

In a recent survey of 18 new recruits in his department, he was surprised that four were already thinking of leaving. "The public has a misunderstanding of civil servants. Corrupt officials and ordinary civil servants are not the same thing," he told the Phoenix Weekly.

Official figures show that China has 7 million civil servants, 90 percent of whom are ordinary clerks.

The Shanghai discipline inspection chief worried that over the long-term, low salaries would cause "the best [employees] to leave, leaving only the worst."

"When some people really want to leave, they're the capable ones with connections. This means you get adverse selection. The most qualified workers leave, and the mediocre stay," he noted.

Searching for solutions

Neither Fan Songqing nor Ye Qing agree with this observation.

"I don't think brain drain will happen. The civil service exam is still quite popular, and new promising recruits snapping up vacancies immediately," Fan said.

Ye believes that the civil service is not for anyone hoping to get rich.

"Public servants are those who serve people whole-heartedly. Earning money is the last thing to worry about. Both ability and political integrity are demanded of a qualified public servant. I don't feel sorry for those who have left due to low salaries," Ye said.

He Wenkai said that, first and foremost, officials must have a desire to proactively serve the people.

However, some argue that it's unrealistic for all public servants to measure up men like Jiao Yulu (1922-64), a traditional example of the honest Party cadre who devoted himself tirelessly to combatting economic backwardness in rural Henan Province.

Many have suggested increasing public servants' salary, especially those at the lowest levels of government. In late August, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee approved a plan for reforming incentive mechanisms for public servants.

Some areas are already experimenting with salary reforms.

Cao Puhua, director of a local organization department in Hunan Province said that his prefecture has established a salary raise system for grass-roots officials tied to local economic development. "This year, in some villages, the village party secretary's remuneration surpassed 15,000 yuan a month. This way, capable people want to stay and serve the people as village officials," Cao said in a recent online chat with netizens on people.com.cn.

He Wenkai advised increasing wages while prohibiting any use of official posts for profit. He also suggested that supervision of officials should be strengthened by giving the public more say on promoting, demoting, or dismissing officials.