Gov’t offices to trim 4,000 staff this year

Hanoi (VNA) - As many as 265,106 civil servants will be included in the State payroll this year, a year-on-year decrease of about 4,000, according to a Prime Minister’s decision that takes effect this month.

The employment number does not include those working at the Public Security Ministry, Defence Ministry and public administrative staff in communes.

Among 16 other ministries and six ministry-level agencies (Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, State Bank of Vietnam, Government Inspectorate, Government Office, HCM Mausoleum Management Board and National Financial Supervisory Committee), the Finance Ministry would employ the most with 70,771 positions, while the Construction Ministry will employ the least with 379 positions.

Among 63 local governments across the country, Hanoi and HCM City would employ the most with about 8,966 positions and 8,052 positions respectively.

As of the middle of last year, the numbers of civil servants and public staff in Vietnam were estimated at about 2.71 million. In general, the State payroll witnessed a decrease from 2011 to 2016, especially between 2014 and 2016, when staff strength reduced by 4,000 each year.

However, in 2016, the number rose again, mostly in the education and health sectors with increases of 136,663 and 54,500 staff respectively. 

In 2017, central government and local governments employed nearly 270,000 staff – a decrease of about 4,000 compared with 2016.

It was reported that in Vietnam, there is one public worker for every 40 people, while in the US, the ratio is 1:160, for an area 30 times larger and with four times higher population.

Last month, the Government of Vietnam issued a resolution (08/NQ-CP) enabling the implementation of an earlier resolution last year calling for management  reform in Government offices to improve quality and operational efficiency.

Ministries, sectors and localities were asked to reduce the number of public personnel.

By 2021, the country also aims to cut public-service institutions by 10 percent. This would reduce the number of institutions by 5,792. Staff would also be cut by 10 percent (about 205,000 people) over the figure of 2015.

By 2025, it hopes to further trim public service institutions by a further 10 percent (about 5,200) and staff by another 10 percent (about 185,000 people).

Also by this year, the country expects to have 10 percent of public-service institutions running as financially independent units.

These moves are expected to reduce Government spending by 10 percent compared to the 2011-2015 period.-VNA