Government gets its way on 397 new public sector jobs

The House finance committee on Monday green-lit the unlocking of some 400 jobs in the public sector, as requested by the government.

Despite their initial hemming and hawing, the majority of MPs on the committee were apparently satisfied with verbal reassurances from the finance ministry that the opening up of 397 new positions of first appointment would not derail public finances.

The finance ministry’s permanent secretary Giorgos Panteli promised lawmakers the government will keep a close eye on the public payroll. In addition, the government is conducting a study into how to streamline the payroll and would present the findings to trade unions and then to parliament sometime next year.

Also next year, the government will prepare a comprehensive document analysing hiring policies in the public sector taking into account vacant positions and retirements. This document would be submitted at the beginning of each calendar year.

Panteli said payroll currently accounts for about 30 per cent of the state budget, and for 12 per cent of GDP.

Answering MPs’ questions, the official said that the number of employees in the central government and the broader public sector has dropped since 2012.

He said the headcount in the ministries today is about 1,000 lower compared to 2012. At the same time, though, the number of people employed in public education has reached 15,000 compared to 12,706 in 2012.

But data from Cystat show that the total number of employees in the broader public sector (central government, municipalities, and state-owned enterprises) had peaked at 71,212 in 2011. The number dipped to 63,584 in 2015, then started inching back up again to reach 71,978 in 2022.

The request to unfreeze an extra 397 jobs comes after earlier this year parliament had approved a previous call for unlocking 1,850 positions. That en masse creation of first-appointment jobs in the public sector had been approved by the cabinet on April 12 – just a little over a month into the administration of Nikos Christodoulides. Most of the positions slated for unlocking had, however, already gotten the nod prior to the elections.

Of the 397 now, 298 concern filling positions in the central government, and the other 99 relate to public-law organisations and municipalities. Eighty-five of the new jobs are for the Electricity Authority of Cyprus.

In other business on Monday, parliamentarians gave the government the nod to purchase the former headquarters of Laiki (Popular) Bank, to which the foreign ministry will be relocated.

The building is located at the entrance to Nicosia. The total asking price for it is €18.5 million. MPs approved the release of €3.7 million from the 2023 state budget as a down payment on the purchase.