Until civil servants’ illegal income streams are eliminated, civil servants’ cries about their meager salary will beget little sympathy from people, says an article in 21st Century Business Herald. Excerpts:

A Party chief of a town in South China complained to the media recently about his poor monthly salary of 2,400 yuan ($395). “Even a migrant worker makes more money than I,” he said.

The new round of reforms certainly affects some interest groups. But this is the first time we have heard civil servants complain about their low salaries, following the central authority’s launch of the harshest anti-corruption and frugality campaigns in recent years.

If the civil servants’ discontent comes from the disappearance of their illegal profits and privileges, the public has enough reason to turn a deaf ear to their groundless grumbling.

There is not yet a clean and transparent income structure for civil servants in China. The central authority’s campaign is a good beginning to establish such an income structure, which is necessary for the modernization of China’s governance system.

There is a big difference among civil servants at various levels and in different fields. The central government should adjust the civil servant payment system to match the civil servants’ salary to their workload, instead of only their ranks.