Original article (in Slovenian) was published on 13/12/2024; Author: Lara Drugovič
Public sector payroll data shows that the total headcount increased by an average of 12 people every working day since 2015. This year, 1.1% more people were employed in the public sector than last year.
Moja Dolenjska ran an article on 17 November headlined Ten new public sector jobs are created every day in Slovenia. At the end of the article, they wondered whether “we are becoming a country that is fattening civil servants while neglecting the economy”. The same article was also published in Demokracija and Pomurske Novice, and shared by multiple Facebook users.
The article said that according to the Public Administration Ministry, the number of employees in the public sector has increased by 3,600 every year since 2015 “or 10 every day”. This calculation is based on all calendar days, not just working days, of which there have been an average of 251 per year since 2015. The data were presented as “data on the number of new employees”, but the authorities do not in fact possess such data.
The Public Administration Ministry explained that it does not have data on how many people are hired in the public sector each day, or how many people leave their jobs. They only have data on the number of public sector employees, which is also available on the public sector payroll portal.
According to a 2023 analysis of the public sector payroll published by the Public Administration Ministry, the number of employees has increased by an average of 3,002 persons each year from 2015 until last year, which amounts to 8 persons each day of the year or 12 persons each working day.
The ministry says that the increase is linked to the ageing population, which is dramatically changing the need for public services in health care and long-term care. “This is not about increasing the apparatus of the state or the administration, it is about increasing the number of staff where demographic reasons are leading to greater demand for public services.”
In addition to those working in the National Assembly, the civil service and the judiciary, the public sector includes employees in health care, social care, education and other sectors.
As of August this year a quarter of all public sector employees worked in education, a fifth in health care, and less than one per cent held office in national and local government, according to public sector payroll portal data.
The Moja Dolenjska editorial board disagrees with the findings and claims their data is accurate.
The claim that ten new people are hired in the Slovenian public sector each day is not true.
