State sector staff numbers remain below the cap
Paula Bennett announced:
New Zealanders are benefiting from the Government’s continued focus on front-line services and restraint of bureaucracy, State Services Minister Paula Bennett says.
The latest report of the public sector cap shows a decrease of 190 to 35,917 full-time equivalent positions in the core public service compared to the previous year.
Currently set at 36,475 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions within core government administrative roles, the cap was introduced in 2008 and reset at the present lower level in 2012.
Overall, numbers are 559 under the present cap and 2,942 below the original 2008 cap.
“Back office numbers blew out to by 10,000 to over 45,000 under the previous Government, while families and businesses carried the cost with little to show for it,” says Mrs Bennett.
Keeping the number of back office staff down is a significant achievement. Labour saw the staff numbers skyrocket.
The numbers for the last few years have been:
- 2008: 38,859
- 2009: 37,379
- 2010: 36,973
- 2011: 36,475
- 2012: 36,081
- 2013: 36,410
- 2014: 26,107
- 2015: 35,917
Keeping staff numbers down is one the reasons why the Government has got the books back into surplus. Labour saw numbers grow 10,000 in four years. Another say 15,000 staff would probably cost almost $2 billion a year.