The State is on track to have more than 400,000 public-service employees for the first time this year, an increase of almost a third on the total recorded at the height of recession-era cuts in 2013.
Research from the independent Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) also indicates the public-sector pay bill will likely rise to almost €33 billion this year, which amounts to almost a third of total State spending.
The estimates are contained in a report prepared by the budgetary office on public-service staffing and pay.
It shows that public-service employment stood at 393,410 last year, excluding local authority and Oireachtas staff.
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A further increase of 19,527 public servants is forecast for this year, bringing the total to almost 415,000, a record high.
The growth in employees in the past 12 years is primarily associated with the health sector, where there are an additional 45,000 people working, and education, where there has been an increase of 40,000 staff.
Two-thirds of the total public pay bill is concentrated in these two areas, with health and education, respectively, accounting for 38.9 per cent and 27 per cent shares of the total.
The gross pay bill for this year is expected to reach €32.69 billion, according to the PBO’s report. This includes an additional €1.2 billion to be paid to employees as a result of raises secured under the current public-service pay agreement.
The deal reached between the State and trade unions involves an increase in salary of 2 per cent, or €1,000, whichever is greater, on March 1st next; a further general increase of 1 per cent in August, as well as the first phase of local bargaining, equivalent to 1 per cent of payroll cost, in September.
Between 2008 and 2013, following the economic crash and Ireland’s EU-IMF bailout, the number of public servants fell by 33,278.
However, the overall number had increased by some 111,000 by the middle of last year.
Almost every sector has, according to the report, seen a marked increase in staff numbers, with the exception of defence. The level of employment in defence remains 20 per cent below the total in 2013. As of last year, the actual strength of the permanent Defence Forces was 7,477, some 2,123 members below the desired target of 9,600.
The public service includes the Civil Service, as well as staff in the education, health and defence sectors, local authorities, and non-commercial State agencies.
In general, public-service pay costs are met directly by the exchequer. However, this is not the case for local authority staff.
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