Public Sector employment up by 26.9% in 11 years

In March 2013, National Statistics Office data showed that public sector employment stood at 40,608. A decade later, in March 2023, these numbers had already reached 50,808.

More recent statistics released on March 15, 2024 by the NSO show that full-time employment in the public sector increased by 0.2 per cent since October 2022 totalling 51,554.

This means that in 11 years, employment in the public sector grew by 26.9 per cent.

Earlier this month, the European Commission announced its intention to open excessive deficit procedures concerning Malta and several other member states, specifically referring to a need to wind down subsidies for energy consumption.

Economist Lawrence Zammit believes we are still in time to address this issue and avoid denting economic growth but only if the appropriate measures are taken.

“One way of doing this is by understanding fully the cost-effectiveness of our public expenditure and then, by addressing those elements of public expenditure which are contributing little to our economy and eliminating the reason for such an expenditure.”

One such element is the inflated number of employees in the public sector.

Now, if consideration is taken that in March 2024, Malta’s average monthly salary was estimated at €1,864, this would mean that a very conservative estimate of the public expenditure on salaries in the public sector is costing the country €94.7 million a month, or €1.136 billion every year.

But the fact that these figures are being based on average salaries, the overall cost in public sector wages must be much higher.

In 2012, this figure stood at €612m.

Earlier this week, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana expressed his confidence that Malta can abide by the EU’s debt threshold within the next four years and urged people not to worry about the state of the country’s debt and the excessive deficit procedure opened by Brussels.

The Opposition however has expressed its concern on the negative impact of the EU’s excessive deficit procedure.

Observers note that given this huge burden on Malta’s taxpayers, the main concern should not be the cost but the value that taxpayers are receiving.

Paying good compensation for skilled workers is one thing, but creating government jobs for individuals as political favours continues to inflate the public sector and this is something that needs to be curbed.

It is also not a question of wage increases. The increase in wages was only a marginal one and therefore, the increase in expenditure is not due to the increase in wages but the inflated number of employees in the public sector, they added.