Growth in public sector attributed to bus service nationalisation

A rise in public sector employment is being attributed to the nationalisation of the Arriva Malta bus service in January 2014, after National Statistics Office data today registered record low unemployment levels.

725 employees of the bus transport service became public sector workers, a government aide pointed out to MaltaToday, suggesting that the employees will be ‘returned’ to the private sector once Malta’s public transport service is privatized yet again.

The Opposition has latched on to the latest figures, noting that public sector full-time jobs increased by almost 1,900 during Labour’s first year in power, or 4.5% over March 2013.

Full-time jobs in both the public and private sector increased by 3.6% over March 2013 (5,500) to over 160,838 jobs, excluding part-timers – Labour has dubbed it the biggest growth in jobs ever since the mid-1990s. “This translates into a growth of 14 full-time jobs daily. By contrast, the former government saw an increase of six jobs daily during its administration,” the government said in a statement.

Public sector boost

But the Nationalist Party today insisted that in its first year of power, public sector employment under Labour had increased by 1,900.

“This is one of the ways the government is trying to hide the unemployment of its first months in power. After years seeing strong growth in private sector employment, of up to 73% of all full-time jobs, this trend appears to be losing ground,” Nationalist MP Stephen Spiteri said.

“Labour inherited a strong economy that withstood the storms of 2008-2013, and in a time of European financial recovery, there is no reason for this government to hide the reality of rising unemployment with an increase of almost 2,000 in the public sector.”

According to latest NSO data, total full-time and part-time public sector employment increased from 41,507 in March 2013, to 43,386 in March 2014 – an increase of 5%.

In 2013, total public sector employment had increased by 2.5% over 2012 (40,893).

At the same time, total private sector employment increased by 3,670 in March 2014 over the same month in 2013, to 117,452 – an increase of 3.2%. In 2013, private sector employment increased to 114,872 by 3.1% over 2012.

Part-time sole occupation

In March, the number of part-timers who also held a full-time job amounted to 24,298, up by 4.8% when compared to the corresponding month last year. Employed persons whose part-time job was their primary occupation totalled 33,559, up by 6.3%, or 1,979 persons, when compared to 2013 levels.