Employment in the public sector has increased by 26.9% in 11 years

In March 2013, data from the National Statistics Office showed that public sector employment stood at 40,608. A decade later, in March 2023, the figure was 50,808.

More recent statistics published on March 15, 2024 by NSO show that since October 2022, full-time employment in the public sector has increased by 0.2%. and amounted to 51,554 people.

This means that over 11 years, public sector employment has increased by 26.9%.

Earlier this month, the European Commission announced its intention to open excessive deficit procedures against Malta and several other Member States, referring specifically to the need to remove subsidies for energy consumption.

Economist Lawrence Zammit believes we still have time to address the issue and avoid a halt to economic growth, but only if the right measures are taken.

“One way to do this is to fully understand the cost-effectiveness of our public spending, and then address those elements of public spending that contribute little to our economy and eliminate the cause of that spending.”

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

If we consider that in March 2024 the average monthly salary in Malta was estimated at €1,864, this means that, according to a very conservative estimate, public spending on public sector wages costs the country €94.7 million per month, or €1.136 billion per year.

However, as these figures are based on average wages, the total cost of wages in the public sector must be significantly higher.

In 2012 this amounted to EUR 612 million.

Earlier this week, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said he was confident that Malta would be able to meet the EU debt threshold within the next four years and urged citizens not to worry about the country’s debt situation or the excessive deficit procedure initiated by Brussels.

However, the opposition expressed concern about the negative impact of the EU’s excessive deficit procedure.

Observers note that given the enormous burden on taxpayers in Malta, the main concern should not be cost but the value taxpayers receive.

Paying good wages to skilled workers is one thing, but creating government jobs for individuals in exchange for political favours continues to drive up public sector spending, and this needs to be curbed.

It is not about wage increases either. The increase in wages is marginal, therefore the increase in expenditure is not due to wage increases, but to the inflated number of employees in the public sector, they added.