asked the Minister for the Public Service the numbers of public servants as a percentage of the total population; if he will give a comparison with other EC countries; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Public Service Employment.
69.
There are about 318,000 persons in public service employment(1) taking account of those employed both directly and indirectly by central and local government and state agencies. This represents 9.5 per cent of the population. Comparable figures for other countries are not available.
However, the European Commission publishes comparative data for a restricted definition of public administration(2). These are set out as follows.
|
Population(3) |
Public Administration(4) |
Percentage |
|
|
000 |
000 |
% |
|
|
Germany |
60,629 |
2,449 |
4.0 |
|
France |
51,384 |
1,689 |
3.3 |
|
Italy |
55,957 |
1,338 |
2.4 |
|
Netherlands |
13,905 |
337 |
2.4 |
|
Belgium |
9,809 |
371 |
3.8 |
|
United Kingdom |
55,208 |
1,839 |
3.3 |
|
Ireland |
3,325 |
74 |
2.2 |
|
Denmark |
5,049 |
134 |
2.6 |
|
Greece |
9,472 |
195 |
2.0 |
Notes:
(1) This figure is an update for 1985 of the figures shown in Table 41 of the publication "Public Service Employment" and given in reply to a Parliamentary Question on 23 October 1984.
(2) This is the classification "Public Administration" as used by the Statistical Office of the European Commission. It consists of the NACE (Nomenclature Générale des Activités Économiques dans les Communautés Européennes) categories for Parliamentary, Central, Regional and Local Government; Justice and Judicial Authorities; Public Security, Law and Order; Fire Service; National Defence; Compulsory Social Insurance Schemes.
(3) Source: Eurostat Labour Force Sample Survey, 1981, Table 1.
(4) Source: Eurostat Labour Force Sample Survey, 1981, Table 34.