Written answers
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Department of Finance
Employment Statistics
9:00 pm
Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 172: To ask the Minister for Finance the number and percentage of civil servants and public sector workers, excluding semi-State bodies, relative to the total Irish workforce for the years 1990 to 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43008/09]
Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The number of civil servants as percentage of the total labour force has varied over the period in question, from 2.4% in 1990 to 1.8% in 2008. Similarly, the proportion of the total labour force employed in the public service has fluctuated, from 17.1% in 1990 to 14.9% in 2008. No final figures are yet available for 2009. The figures requested by the Deputy are in the table. The figures used for Public Service employee numbers excludes those employed in commercial semi-state bodies but includes employees of non-commercial semi-state bodies.
| 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | |
| 27,972 | 28,090 | 28,887 | Civil Service | 29,519 | 29,654 | 30,155 | 31,282 | 31,030 | 30,856 | 31,562 |
| 198,161 | 201,499 | 204,365 | Public Service | 207,875 | 210,769 | 215,337 | 218,703 | 218,993 | 222,013 | 226,307 |
| 1,160,000 | 1,156,000 | 1,165,000 | Total Workforce | 1,183,000 | 1,221,000 | 1,282,000 | 1,329,000 | 1,380,000 | 1,506,400 | 1,601,900 |
| 2.4% | 2.4% | 2.5% | CS as % of workforce | 2.5% | 2.4% | 2.4% | 2.4% | 2.2% | 2.0% | 2.0% |
| 17.1% | 17.4% | 17.5% | PS as % of workforce | 17.6% | 17.3% | 16.8% | 16.4% | 15.9% | 14.7% | 14.1% |
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | |
| Civil Service | 32,733 | 34,068 | 36,092 | 37,796 | 37,276 | 36,867 | 36,533 | 37,156 | 38,200 |
| Public Service | 233,078 | 247,343 | 269,799 | 279,274 | 279,609 | 284,787 | 292,129 | 304,512 | 312,131 |
| Total Workforce | 1,684,400 | 1,734,600 | 1,774,800 | 1,804,300 | 1,871,000 | 1,963,000 | 2,048,000 | 2,123,000 | 2,100,000 |
| CS as % of workforce | 1.9% | 2.0% | 2.0% | 2.1% | 2.0% | 1.9% | 1.8% | 1.8% | 1.8% |
| PS as % of workforce | 13.8% | 14.3% | 15.2% | 15.5% | 15.0% | 14.5% | 14.3% | 14.3% | 14.9% |
Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 173: To ask the Minister for Finance the number and percentage of civil servants and public sector workers, excluding semi-state bodies, in each of the 27 EU countries and the 20 OECD countries for the years 2000 to 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43009/09]
Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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In relation to the number and percentage of civil servants and public sector workers in each of the 27 EU countries, I would advise the Deputy that this information is not compiled by Eurostat and as such is not readily available. The OECD do not collect this information annually, but instead use the results of the Comparison of Employment in the Public Domain (CEPD) survey. The results of the most recent survey from 2005 are presented in the table below, and are available in the OECD publication "Government at a Glance." The OECD point out that no international comparative data presently exist for public employment due to methodological difficulties and differing definitions.
Due to the difficulty of standardising figures across 26 countries, these figures are not directly comparable with annual figures given by the Department of Finance for public service employees. The table below shows that the employment in general government as a percentage of the labour force in Ireland is close to the average.
Employment in general government as a percentage of the labour force, 2005
| Norway | 28.8% |
| Sweden | 28.3% |
| France | 21.9% |
| Finland | 21.3% |
| Hungary | 19.2% |
| Belgium | 17.1% |
| Canada | 15.6% |
| Ireland | 14.7% |
| United Kingdom | 14.6% |
| Italy | 14.2% |
| United States | 14.1% |
| Greece | 14.1% |
| Australia | 13.6% |
| Portugal | 13.4% |
| Poland | 13.4% |
| Spain | 13.0% |
| Czech Republic | 12.9% |
| Netherlands | 12.8% |
| Mexico | 11.1% |
| Germany | 10.4% |
| Austria | 10.2% |
| Slovak Republic | 9.5% |
| Turkey | 9.2% |
| Switzerland | 7.1% |
| Korea | 5.5% |
| Japan | 5.3% |
| OECD 26 | 14.3% |
Data are not available for New Zealand, Denmark, Luxembourg and Iceland.
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