The Nationalist Party said today that Finance Minister Edward Scicluna had tried to be deceptive yesterday in an attempt to hide a spike in the number of people employed by the government.

Prof Scicluna said yesterday that the figures had been distorted by the NSO when construction workers who worked for the Resources Ministry were included as government workers, when previously they were not.

But the PN said the NSO itself had pointed out that the increase of more than 2,100 public sector jobs between March 2013 and last April excluded the reclassification which the minister had referred to.

The party also pointed out that some 1,500 workers retired every year. This meant that in a year, the Labour government had engaged 3,600.

The PN expressed solidarity with the employees of the NSO, who, it said, were being subjected to constant political pressure when data was not to the government’s liking.

It urged the governemnt to strengthen the independence of the NSO.

The PN statement was signed by Tonio Fenech, shadow minister of finance.