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11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 OCTOBER 2022 NEWS NICOLE MEILAK AN exercise by the MaltaToday newsroom to chart the state of the Maltese private and public employment sectors, shows the growth of the Maltese public sector from 2013 onwards, but reveals a lower share of total em- ployment than a decade ago. Although public sector em- ployment as laid down in Na- tional Statistics Office data has grown from a total of 42,000 em- ployees to over 51,000 this year (last data available April 2022), its share of total employment de- creased from 36% to 26% as pri- vate sector growth outstripped government jobs. But Malta Chamber president Marisa Xuereb, who favours a sustained decrease in public sector growth, said that despite private sector employment out- stripping the public, the share of public sector employment in Malta is still higher than in most EU countries. She pointed out that the com- position of employees is also different. "The private sector carries a much larger share of foreign employees who are now mostly third country nationals," she told MaltaToday. Because of this, the private sector is exposed to higher re- cruitment costs and a high staff turnover rate as most TCNs use Malta as a stepping stone to the EU. "They don't stay here for longer than a year or two at most." "It is clear that the public sec- tor is crowding out the private sector when it comes to Maltese nationals," she said. Xuereb added that there are hundreds of workers employed by the private sector to work for public sector entities. "This is a practice that gained traction in recent years." She pointed to the fact that public sector entities do not have to be financially sustaina- ble to survive. "Over the years, there have been little financial constraints that push such enti- ties to address inefficiencies and over-employment as happens in private sector organisations." The Air Malta saga is a case study in this. The airline's CEO David Curmi said that its unit cost difference was 44% higher than competitors like Ryanair and Easyjet. This is mostly down to an overstaffed airline and high ground-handling costs. Last January, Finance Minis- ter Clyde Caruana said that the 900-person complement at the airline would be halved in a last- chance restructuring exercise. "The excesses exposed within Air Malta are likely to be pres- ent to varying degrees in other state entities as well. It is only in the last few months that we are hearing about major cost-cut- ting within the public service." Marisa Xuereb said earlier this month that government should implement a rationalisation pro- cess within the public sector to cut down the governments pay- roll. She argued that government would be in a better position to offer essential services, subsidies and carry out major products. Xuereb said that this should in- clude a trimming-down on pay- roll costs, including unnecessary overtime, performance bonuses paid in full irrespective of per- formance, and a rationalisation exercise whereby duplication of efforts by different state entities are streamlined. Meanwhile, under-utilised hu- man resources should be trans- ferred to where they are really needed. "Where they cannot be efficiently utilised within the public sector, there needs to be a way of making them available for the private sector or at least assigning them to roles that are currently filled by recruits em- ployed by private sector opera- tors on behalf of state entities." nmeilaq@mediatoday.com.mt Public sector 'crowding out private sector on local recruits' Malta Chamber President Marisa Xuereb says private sector job growth is reliant on third-country nationals, as the public sector takes in more Maltese nationals Other services 21 Wholesale, retail, motor repairs 171 Real estate 184 Professional, scientific & technical 207 Energy supply 254 Manufacturing 359 Agriculture, forestry and fishing 487 Construction 528 ICT 698 Arts, entertainment and recreation 798 Finance, insurance 882 Water, sewerage and waste 1196 Transport & storage 1234 Admin & support services 2916 Health and social work 11873 Education 12386 Public admin, defence, social security 16933 Public service size 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022-Apr 35.9% 36% 34.1% 32.2% 30.8% 29.2% 27.9% 27.3% 27.2% 25.8% 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022-Apr Public sector size as at April 2022 (latest data) Public sector employment: growth In this chart by MaltaToday's newsroom, the relative growth of the Maltese public sector in terms of jobs is charted from 2013 to latest date in April 2022. Although it has grown from a total of 42,000 employees to over 51,000 this year, its share of total employment has decreased from 36% to 26% as private sector growth outsripped government jobs. Still, major industrialists believe the State is usurping human resources at a costly price for them and for taxpayers Educat Education ion Health Health Public admin Public admin