The Labour government has recruited more than 100 employees per month into the public sector since coming to power, official figures show.

Public sector employment surged to 44,059, or an increase of 2,552 since the March 2013 election, the National Statistics Office figures show. Recruitment during Labour’s second year in power fell to less than 600.

According to calculations made by the Times of Malta, based on a minimum wage, the Labour administration increased the public wage bill by around €22 million a year.

Potential savings could amount to around €4.9m

This increase in the public wage bill contradicts pledges made by the government to the European Commission.

According to an official document sent to Brussels in October 2013, the government had pledged to reduce public sector employment “by around 500 a year”.

“Potential savings from this policy could amount to around €4.9 million in 2014 and additional savings in subsequent years,” the document penned by the Finance Minister stated.

It is estimated that around 1,500 government employees retire from the public service each year. This means that apart from the 2,500 new employees, the government also recruited a further 3,000 to replace the retired public servants.

Unveiling the pre-Budget document recently, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna acknowledged the increase in the public sector wage bill but put this down to a higher intake of employees in the education and health sectors.

During the 1996-1998 Labour administration, then Prime Minister Alfred Sant had frozen recruitment with the public sector, a move that earned him criticism from core voters.

Between 2011 and 2012, the Nationalist administration suspended its commitment to cut recruitment within the public sector and 700 new jobs were added to it by March 2013.

But over the term of the PN’s last legislature, the number of public sector employees went down from 42,180 in March 2008 to 41,507 in March 2013.

In numbers