26,000 New Jobs for 2012! Does Morocco Have Too Many Civil Servants?
12 January 2012
Read by 1367 persons
Morocco has only 26 civil servants per 1,000 inhabitants, compared to 44 in Tunisia, 42 in Algeria... Personnel expenses represent 10.7% of GDP in 2011 compared to 12% in France and 15% in Algeria. Recruitment has been increasing since 2008.
The 2012 Finance Bill draft, put on hold by the outgoing government, provides for the creation of 25,854 jobs in the civil service. Will Abdelilah Benkirane's government confirm this figure? Most likely yes. The Istiqlal party, which is part of the new government and which has been given the portfolio of economy and finance, will surely want to maintain these budget positions that it had itself planned. Especially since the party, at the head of the outgoing government, had made recruitment in the civil service one of the levers of its employment policy and of resolving the issue of higher education graduates. As we indicated in our edition of December 30, 2011, the El Fassi government created, between 2008 and 2011, an average of 17,860 jobs per year in the civil service, a total of 71,442 positions in four years.
Those who are used to criticizing the administration for its "roundness", or even its excessive size in terms of personnel employed and therefore the salary mass distributed, relative to its supposed inefficiency, would have reason to complain if the recruitment forecast for 2012 were maintained. Nearly 26,000 budget positions to be created in 2012, this is a 37.5% increase in terms of recruitment compared to 2011 and 7.5% in terms of salary mass. In a context of tightening revenue, with civil servants' salaries reaching such a level (93.5 billion planned for 2012), this represents more than half (54.6%) of the operating budget, 38.2% of all resources (tax and non-tax) of the General Budget and 10.8% of GDP.
90 civil servants per 1,000 inhabitants in France and 110 in Norway.
But one question keeps arising: are there too many civil servants in Morocco? Or are they overpaid? Let us first recall that the public authorities themselves had judged that the administration was overstaffed and that personnel expenses were therefore too heavy. It was therefore necessary to streamline the mammoth, and this is how numerous measures have been taken in recent years to reduce the weight of the salary mass. In this regard, we can mention the voluntary departure operation which resulted in the departure of 38,763 civil servants to early retirement in 2005/2006 (cf www.lavieeco.com), the elimination of budget positions that became vacant following retirement due to age limit, the prohibition of recruitment in grades 1 to 4 and of casual staff, the limitation of the creation of budget positions to cover essential needs, and finally the obligation to pass a competitive examination to access the civil service. It turns out that, precisely because of the voluntary departure operation, which emptied certain services, needs have appeared that must be met; hence, again, an increase in the number of recruits, as shown in the graph above.
Faced with this observation, the administration's response is always the same: it is true, it is explained in substance, that we have started recruiting more than before the voluntary departure operation, but now "we target profiles better, so we gain in efficiency".
Today, the number of civil servants (of the State, local authorities and public establishments) is around 840,000. This represents 26.5 civil servants per 1,000 inhabitants. Is this too much? Is it insufficient? In Tunisia, the civil servants/population ratio is 44 civil servants per 1,000 inhabitants; in Algeria, this ratio is 42.1 and it is 50 in Germany. Let's not talk about the countries of Northern Europe where the number of civil servants resembles the legendary Red Army of the time of the Soviet Union: 110 civil servants per 1,000 inhabitants in Norway and 160 per 1,000 in Finland.
In France, public payroll represents some 12% of GDP and in Algeria 15% of GDP excluding hydrocarbons. But Tunisia, with 44 civil servants per 1,000 inhabitants, has a payroll almost similar to that of Morocco in terms of GDP ratio, while the Kingdom only has "only" 26.5 civil servants per 1,000 inhabitants.
It must be said that numerous revaluations of civil servants' salaries have taken place in recent years, both through direct increases and through a reduction in income tax.
Overall, therefore, the civil service in Morocco, contrary to what is said somewhat hastily, is probably not overstaffed, but perhaps...a little expensive.
Salah Agueniou.
Lavieeco.com
Published on January 10, 2012.
Posted online on January 12, 2012.
The 2012 Finance Bill draft, put on hold by the outgoing government, provides for the creation of 25,854 jobs in the civil service. Will Abdelilah Benkirane's government confirm this figure? Most likely yes. The Istiqlal party, which is part of the new government and which has been given the portfolio of economy and finance, will surely want to maintain these budget positions that it had itself planned. Especially since the party, at the head of the outgoing government, had made recruitment in the civil service one of the levers of its employment policy and of resolving the issue of higher education graduates. As we indicated in our edition of December 30, 2011, the El Fassi government created, between 2008 and 2011, an average of 17,860 jobs per year in the civil service, a total of 71,442 positions in four years.
Those who are used to criticizing the administration for its "roundness", or even its excessive size in terms of personnel employed and therefore the salary mass distributed, relative to its supposed inefficiency, would have reason to complain if the recruitment forecast for 2012 were maintained. Nearly 26,000 budget positions to be created in 2012, this is a 37.5% increase in terms of recruitment compared to 2011 and 7.5% in terms of salary mass. In a context of tightening revenue, with civil servants' salaries reaching such a level (93.5 billion planned for 2012), this represents more than half (54.6%) of the operating budget, 38.2% of all resources (tax and non-tax) of the General Budget and 10.8% of GDP.
90 civil servants per 1,000 inhabitants in France and 110 in Norway.
But one question keeps arising: are there too many civil servants in Morocco? Or are they overpaid? Let us first recall that the public authorities themselves had judged that the administration was overstaffed and that personnel expenses were therefore too heavy. It was therefore necessary to streamline the mammoth, and this is how numerous measures have been taken in recent years to reduce the weight of the salary mass. In this regard, we can mention the voluntary departure operation which resulted in the departure of 38,763 civil servants to early retirement in 2005/2006 (cf www.lavieeco.com), the elimination of budget positions that became vacant following retirement due to age limit, the prohibition of recruitment in grades 1 to 4 and of casual staff, the limitation of the creation of budget positions to cover essential needs, and finally the obligation to pass a competitive examination to access the civil service. It turns out that, precisely because of the voluntary departure operation, which emptied certain services, needs have appeared that must be met; hence, again, an increase in the number of recruits, as shown in the graph above.
Faced with this observation, the administration's response is always the same: it is true, it is explained in substance, that we have started recruiting more than before the voluntary departure operation, but now "we target profiles better, so we gain in efficiency".
Today, the number of civil servants (of the State, local authorities and public establishments) is around 840,000. This represents 26.5 civil servants per 1,000 inhabitants. Is this too much? Is it insufficient? In Tunisia, the civil servants/population ratio is 44 civil servants per 1,000 inhabitants; in Algeria, this ratio is 42.1 and it is 50 in Germany. Let's not talk about the countries of Northern Europe where the number of civil servants resembles the legendary Red Army of the time of the Soviet Union: 110 civil servants per 1,000 inhabitants in Norway and 160 per 1,000 in Finland.
In France, public payroll represents some 12% of GDP and in Algeria 15% of GDP excluding hydrocarbons. But Tunisia, with 44 civil servants per 1,000 inhabitants, has a payroll almost similar to that of Morocco in terms of GDP ratio, while the Kingdom only has "only" 26.5 civil servants per 1,000 inhabitants.
It must be said that numerous revaluations of civil servants' salaries have taken place in recent years, both through direct increases and through a reduction in income tax.
Overall, therefore, the civil service in Morocco, contrary to what is said somewhat hastily, is probably not overstaffed, but perhaps...a little expensive.
Salah Agueniou.
Lavieeco.com
Published on January 10, 2012.
Posted online on January 12, 2012.
