Good article today in the T&T on the NB civil service today.
Since 2003, the provincial public service has added 2,414 employees, representing a 5.4 per cent increase in staffing.
No increase in population but we needed 2,414 new public workers. At an average of $60k, that’s roughly $145 million more payroll per year. I’m just askin’.
The public service is broken down into three parts, including 11,505 traditional civil servants, 16,734 working in education and 18,796 health-care workers.
47,305 public workers. Not including the federal government and local governments which brings total public sector employment to close to 70,000. And this doesn’t include the government subsidized jobs like post-secondary education (several thousand more).
I don’t have a problem with a large civil service. I believe in the importance of having good public services but I have to scratch my head as to why we need thousands of more public workers since the late 1990s when there has been no population growth.