On March 24 a senior official from the finance ministry was arguing to MPs that the main thrust of a government bill to unfreeze public sector jobs was to simplify hiring processes.

At the time, she cited a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which had not yet been published, which she said showed that the number of public sector employees in Cyprus was not high compared to the average in other countries as if that was the real issue.

At the same meeting, the head of the fiscal council warned that various “loopholes” had undermined the freezing policy over the years and he cautioned that government departments tended to claim they were understaffed “no matter how many people they hire”.

Also, the head of the economy and competitiveness council warned that the sudden unfreezing might cause government spending to spike – possibly necessitating a hike on taxes to pay for it.

Fast forward to April 3, the House plenum voted to end the hiring freeze on vacated permanent positions in the public sector, reversing a policy instituted 12 years previously.

A week later, on April 11, the full IMF report cited was published. The finance ministry official was accurate that the government workforce was “moderate in size” but that’s where the justification ends.

The IMF report had much more to say that was extremely unflattering – and that’s being charitable.
The numbers might be comparatively modest – close to 40,000 – but “the average compensation is high”, the report said.

This is not news of course.

There was more. On average public-sector workers in Cyprus earn 27 per cent more than their private sector counterparts. By the time public servants are over 50, they’re earning 35 per cent more than workers in the private sector, peaking with an average salary of over €56,000, though the highest earning at retirement was shown at around €96,000.

Earnings of the average public servant “more than triple over a working life”, the IMF said.
They must be super-efficient and incentivised then? No.

“Measures of government effectiveness” in Cyprus still lag other advanced economies, according to the IMF.

Basically, the IMF says what is rewarded in the Cypriot public sector is “length of tenure” something for which there is “no justification on human resource grounds”.

It stopped short of using the term “parasitical”.

“High pay levels are not translating into high-quality public services. The overall performance of the government sector is among the weakest in Europe… the system provides poor value for money,” the report says.

Again, this is not news to anyone who has tried to use both human and e-government services – as highlighted by the Cyprus Mail two days ago.

More e-government should mean fewer employees are needed, and as AI develops, this should reduce numbers even further.

Therefore, the impact on public-service hiring due to the so-called digital transition should be starting to become apparent by now even in a small way, but the opposite seems to be happening.

The last thing we need are more jobsworths using AI tools to make their own lives easier without any significant benefit to the public. Sounds a bit like a scam.