With the support of unions, the Government approved the largest ever public employment offer: 44,787 positions. 34,151 of these correspond to the normal offer (22,009 new entry and 12,142 internal promotions) and 10,636 the temporary staff stabilization. After repeated complaints by the unions about the slowness of the call process and the long wait for results, the Executive also promised to publish all calls for the normal offer, which is more than 34,000, before the end this year.
Maria Jesus Montero (Minister of Finance and Public Function) also announced that all interim positions falling under the General State Administration will be published before December. This is to comply with the agreement with Brussels to lower to below 8% the high rate for temporary employment in public sector. Currently, it stands at 32%, ten times more than the private sector. He also promised that the processes would be completed and awarded before December 31, 2024. He said that “we have to solve the offer in a timely fashion” and urged the other administrations to do the same “in the coming days”.
Montero assumed that this record-breaking public employment offer nearly doubles those offered by the Government Mariano Rajoy in 2017. He explained that this was “reflects the Executive’s will to ensure that the Public Administrations have sufficient material resources, and that they can contribute by qualified and dedicated staff.”
The State Administration has 25,471 open positions in 2022. 15,880 positions are free and 9,591 positions correspond with internal promotion. 1,951 positions are available for the Armed Forces (842 free entry and 1,109 internal promotions); 1,951 for the Armed Forces (842 and 1,109 direct entry); 1,732 for the Administration of Justice (940 and 792 for internal promotion); 5,5 for the General Council of the Judiciary.
The majority of places available, or more than 61% of them, have been allocated to three policies that are most relevant to the Executive: 27.5% for actions related to social cohesion, services to citizens, almost 19% to green and sustainable economies, and 14.5% for digital transformation and innovation. 20 percent of the AGE’s free offer will be allocated to STEM profiles. This refers to those in science, technology engineering, and mathematics.
Of the more than 10600 positions in the temporary staff stabilization program, 4,692 are for General State Administration, and 5,945 for Administration of Justice.
The Government suspends the public employment offer for the year with this Royal Decree. However, it continues to hold the line on the salary increases for the more than 2 million public employees and also delays its negotiations until after the summer when the time for the approval of the new Budgets 2023 is near.
The Minister of Public Function confirmed this despite the fact her department had made a promise last week with unions to convene a social dialogue table to discuss a complex issue. This is in an era of spiral inflationary, which can threaten the purchasing power and put public funds under pressure.
“We hope that inflation will moderate during the second semester and we will have more data that we can sit down with the unions to have a path which allows us to not delve into the effects of inflation but to allow us to accompany the officials,” Montero said. Montero also indicated that the company does not envisage a salary increase above 2% for this year but that the increase will be approved for next year. He defended that the Executive must prioritize the fight against inflation as the threat and not take any measures that could make temporary inflation structural.
CSIF, the majority union of civil servants, has launched a nationwide campaign to mobilize citizens across Spain to protest the loss of purchasing power as well as the lack of negotiation in this area. Madrid will host the main concentration, which will be at the Ministry of Finance and Public Function’s headquarters. Other concentrations in the country will be at the doors of Government sub-delegations.
The Government approved a plan to reduce energy consumption in the Public Administration. It includes photovoltaic plants for self use, three days of Teleworking for Civil servants, rationalization of the switching on and off times of air conditioning installations, lighting, and equipment or temperature control.
