The money for the salaries of the employees in the state administration that is allocated from the Budget is growing every year as are the promises of the government that there must be cuts, and exactly those employments are the only tool to satisfy the appetites of the party activists. In 2008, 339 million euros were provided for the salaries instate administration, and this year that number, before the budget review, is 510 million euros.

Has the quality of the services that the citizens receive from the state administration increased by that much?, analyzes “MKD.mk”.

For salaries in the state administration this year, the government will allocate 144 million euros more than the money allocated in 2009 or 134 million euros more than in 2011. In 2019, the budget for salaries in the state administration was 60 million less than the one for this year, and last year 20 million euros less than the 510 million euros projected for this year.

Pre-election promises to reduce the number of public sector employees remain on paper. The number of job advertisements and the interest for employment in the state administration is growing. Reducing the number of employees in the state administration remains a challenge for any government, and none of them has so far shown the courage to make more serious cuts in terms of staffing and professionalisation of the state administration. The need for reforms in this area is clear to everyone, this has become part of the chapters for EU accession negotiations, but the numbers do not change. On the contrary.

 

The statistics of the Administration Agency show the great interest of the citizens for employment in the state administration. In 2019, there were 517 job ads for 1,669 employees, and 15,969 candidates applied. The number of public calls in 2020 increased by 23.89 percent, of which the number of those in the state administration, without the local one, has increased by as much as 60.71 percent more, the Administration Agency said.

The number of employees in the public sector by December 31, 2020 was 131,183 people working in a total of 1,332 institutions.

Although the salaries in the state administration are not high, the citizens consider the state as the most reliable employer. However, all analyzes show that in Macedonia we are talking about incompetent, unprofessional and partisan administration. So far, no government has shown political will for serious reform. Public administration reform is included in the first cluster of the negotiating framework. This cluster is considered the most important cluster. It covers the chapters on justice and fundamental rights, justice, freedom and security, the functioning of democratic institutions, public administration reform, the economic criteria of public administration and public procurement, and financial control, and lasts throughout the negotiation process.