The recession forces many companies to reduce jobs, but in the communities the number of employees has increased for years. A fifth of more people is employed compared to 2008. Vienna in particular stops what is needed. Two contractors were added to every official who has been going on since 2008.
The Austrian communities are in financial needs, every second this year writes a min. One of the mitigation is the personnel costs, which have gone considerably in recent years. Since 2008, wages have doubled to 11 billion euros more than doubled. If they were only growing with inflation, they would now be around 8.5 billion euros.
20 percent more employees in communities since 2008
The strong plus not only on the high salary degrees, but also on the extra employees. “The municipalities have hired vigorously over the years. Since 2008, almost 22,000 full equivalents have been added – an increase with almost a fifth,” says Jan Kluge, economist at the Business Liberal Institute Agenda Austria.
Especially in the town hall of Vienna, the work does not seem to end. Here, contracting employees have gradually replaced the officials in recent years, with a catch: two contractors were added to each official. Since 2008, the number of officials has fallen by more than 10,000 jobs to a good 10,000, while contractual staff rose by nearly 20,000 jobs to around 36,500.
More children’s and older care
The increase in Austria has a number of understandable reasons, Kluge admits. This includes, for example, the national childcare that the communities. Demographic change also contributes to this. More and more older people need care. Some tasks also take on employees of the municipalities. But apart from that, there are more civil servants in the offices. “The public service sometimes suffers from its own state bureaucracy,” says Kluge.
According to the economist, the root of the problem lies in the federal system of Austria. The responsibility for income and expenditure is not in one hand. The compensation for the extensive warfare between the different levels also devours many resources and leads to work that is twice.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
