Rise in State employees - Portugal now has 675,000 civil servants

The June headcount of civil servants shows there are 16,000 more now than when the Socialist Party government took power, three years ago.

Of Portugal's 4.8 million workers, the number of civil servants has increased to 675,000, still way short of the 728,000 State employees when the Troika rode into town in late 2011.

The Directorate-General for Administration and Public Employment released its latest stats today – Portugal’s taxpayers are supporting 675,320 civil servants, boosted by more jobs in Local and Regional Administration (1,559 jobs), which cancelled out a welcome fall in employment in the Central Administration (down 646 jobs).

Councils have been employing staff that were ‘self-employed’ and hence off the official payroll, taking municipal companies back under Council control, plus their staff, and the hiring of staff for artistic, sports and recreational activities during the summer months.

The Central Administration's fall in jobs was due to a reduction in the number of teachers (down 1,504). On the growth side, the most significant (up 683) was at the Ministry of Internal Administration which contracted forest watchmen for fire prevention operations during the summer.

As for wages, in April 2018, State workers and earned an average monthly basic of €1,468, a year-on-year increase of just 0.5%.

On top of this uninspiring salary, civil servants take home premiums, regular allowances and supplements, as well as payment for overtime.

Adding these to the basic, on average a civil servant takes home €1,709 a month, before tax.

As for the team supporting the Prime Minister in his endeavours, at the end of June, 1,170 people were working in the offices of the 61 members of the Socialist Executive, representing an increase of 282 people compared to the end of 2015 - up 32%.

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