What are the salary prospects in the public service? The government is organizing a third meeting with trade unions on Monday December 13 to discuss the financial future of civil servants. On the menu of the day’s discussions: careers and salaries. In Sweden, not all civil servants are housed in the same boat and in Italy, they are desperately looking for them because there is a lack of arms.
In Sweden, three levels of civil servants and as many conditions
In Sweden 1.6 million people work in the public sector, or roughly a third of the working population. However, the situation of these officials and their working conditions are quite varied depending on their position. Recently, for example, the midwifery grumbling movement in Stockholm has spread to the rest of Sweden. They are demanding, among other things, salary increases.
In the Nordic country, civil servants are divided into three categories, which correspond to a territorial division. At the state level, we find senior civil servants, that is, employees of large government agencies. They don’t complain too much about their salaries. Then come the officials who work at the regional level, responsible in particular for health: care centers, hospitals, dental offices … Finally, there are the officials who work for the municipalities – there are 270 in total. These municipalities are responsible, among other things, for schools, retirement homes, home help …
It is undoubtedly for this last category of employees that the situation is most critical. The aging of the population and strong immigration have plunged municipal finances into the red. It is therefore the race for savings, despite the presence of unions, which remain very popular in the country compared to others. Indeed, even if memberships are declining, between 70 and 80% of civil servants belong to a union, depending on the communities.
In Sweden, there is no statutory minimum wage: it is decided through collective bargaining. Then, the change in income is negotiated by the social partners every two years, depending in particular on the level of inflation. For each employee, the increase in wages therefore depends on these scales but also on individual negotiations, carried out with their superiors and again framed by collective agreements. Remuneration is therefore increasing regularly.
In Italy, state desperately seeks civil servant
The Italian state itself recognizes it: it lacks civil servants. On January 1, 2021, Italy had 3.2 million civil servants, slightly less than in 2020. On the other hand, compared to the last twenty years, this is the lowest figure. Among the reasons that explain this, there is the Covid-19 pandemic which has blocked or greatly disrupted several entrance exams, but also retirements, which are always more numerous and not necessarily replaced. This phenomenon will also accelerate because the average age of Italian civil servants is 50 years. In the next three years, around 500,000 civil servants will assert their pension rights.
The government of Mario Draghi therefore intends to recruit new agents quickly. This is a challenge because, without these officials, the post-Covid economic recovery could become more difficult for Italy. Indeed, the government relies largely on them to manage the windfall that constitutes the great recovery plan financed mainly by the European Union. The plan provides for an investment of 1.7 billion euros to improve administrative capacities, both central and local. These capacities will make it possible to manage the 369 billion euros of resources allocated by Brussels to Rome.
However, mainly in the southern regions which are the poorest of the Boot, the staff are not sufficiently trained to apply the reforms and the various modernization plans of the country, such as digital transformation and sustainable development. If Italy does not know how to spend the money given to it, it could be detrimental for the whole country, as Europe can recover the unused funds. However, Mario Draghi, the President of the Council, was called precisely to implement this recovery which the country so badly needs. So a big part of his credibility is at stake.
The Italian authorities are therefore faced with a vast and necessary reform of the civil service. Italy needs better trained and more competent, better paid and fairer, younger and more motivated civil servants. The needs exist in the central administrations but also in the decentralized administrations, which have more powers than in France, in particular in health matters. After years of underinvestment, the government is determined to seize the opportunity that presents itself to modernize its public service.