Government employees increased by almost 2,000 in the 12-month period to March to reach the highest staff complement in the past five years.

Figures released by the National Statistics Office show that the number of civil servants grew from 41,507 in March 2013, when the general election was held, to 43,386 this March, an increase of 1,879 full-time jobs, or 4.5 per cent.

There was an increase of 1,879 full-time jobs from March 2013 to this year

Between 2012 and 2013, government jobs had grown by 625, from 40,882.

The private sector also posted higher employment, continuing the upward trend seen in the past half-decade.

There were 113,782 private sector employees in March 2013 and the number grew to 117,452 this March. That is an increase of almost 3,700 full-time jobs, or 3.2 per cent.

This was the largest year-on-year increase. In 2012, the number of people employed in the private sector stood at 111,736, up from the 108,286 in 2011, an increase of 3,450.

While the government welcomed the recent figures as demonstrating the largest ever growth in jobs since the mid-1990s, the Nationalist Party accused it of hiring people to hide the rising unemployment.

“This is one of the ways in which the government is trying to hide the unemployment problem in its first months in power.

“After years seeing strong growth in private sector employment of up to 73 per cent of all full-time jobs, this trend appears to be losing ground,” Nationalist MP Stephen Spiteri said in a statement.

This is one way in which the government is trying to hide the unemployment problem

“Labour inherited a strong economy that withstood the financial crisis and there is no reason for this government to hide the reality of rising unemployment with an increase of almost 2,000 in the public sector, especially at a time of European financial recovery,” he said.

However, the government noted that full-time employment in both the public and private sectors increased by 3.6 per cent over March 2013, or 5,500 jobs.

“This translates into a growth of 14 full-time jobs daily.

“In contrast, the former government saw an increase of six jobs daily during its administration,” the government said.

The total number of gainfully occupied amounts to 160,838.

The NSO figures show an increase of 433 self-employed, totalling 18,477, and 600 more people working in Gozo.

In March, the number of part-time workers who also held a full-time job amounted to 24,298, up by almost five per cent when compared to the same month last year.

Employed people whose part-time job was their primary occupation totalled 33,559, up by 6.3 per cent, or 1,979 people, when compared to March 2013.