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There is an inflexible rule that where the median falls between two Government salary points, as it invariably does, Government rounds up or down to the nearest point. With the Typists it rounded up; with the SATs down.
PIU survey officers found that the private sector normally engages Stenos/SATs with previous experience. Hence the relatively high minimum. In Government recruits normally come straight from school and therefore the school-leavers formula is employed for
deciding starting pay. This is $920 (on 1.4.77) for a full Certificate of Education in 5 subjects. For Stenographers the subjects are Chinese,
English and
Maths (to prove literacy and
numeracy) plus shorthand and typing at acceptable working speeds capable of rapid improvement in a working environment. If appointees have 7 approved subjects they start at $990 and if they have
higher shorthand and typing speeds (110/50 w.p.m.) at $1065 or $1140.
The pay scales requested by the Stenos/SATS on the basis of the HKPC Trend Report have been computed by them on the basis of figures they have selected. Had an average been taken of all the figures (i.e. Commerce, Utility, Manufacturing and Service) and not just those of the Commerce and Utility Sectors it would have given pay rates less favourable than those now introduced by Government.
As the Staff Sides calculation comes out fairly precisely with what Government is paying Personal Secretaries, who were also excluded from Equal Pay, it appears that exclusion has not in all cases operated to the detriment of excluded grades. It is possible that the Staff Side's calculated higher maximum for the private sector is due to the HKPC's inclusion of the many hybrid grades of clerks/steno or receptionist/ steno which exist in the private sector and whose duties are different from those of
Government.
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In
The PIU is forbidden to reveal the names of companies which provide information to either the Staff or Official Sides. It should be noted however that companies are not given the same numbers in successive surveys. the 1973/74 surveys company No. 22 was a different company from the No. 22 of the 1976 survey. In 1973/74 the company which in 1976 was No. 22 employed no Stenographers and was therefore not included in the sample of those years (1973/74).