AL committee casts doubts over civil service staff numbers
Lawmakers at the Second Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly should be concerned about the projected number of new employees which the government is planning to hire for the public service and other government-owned entities, the chairman of the committee, lawmaker Chan Chak Mo said yesterday.
Lawmakers questioned the figure of 1,486 new staff members listed in the government’s budget next year.
Admitting that the figure is currently a tentative one and that the final figure will depend on the results of tenders and other factors, Chan nonetheless said that lawmakers expressed some concerns as only 527 current staff members plan to retire.
According to Chan, particular attention was paid to the six services and entities that are each recruiting over 50 new staff members next year.
At the top of this list is the University of Macau, which proposes to hire 160 new staff members, followed by the Macau Security Force, which also proposes some 154 new recruits. Next on the list is the Health Bureau (SSM) with 88, the Municipal Affairs Bureau with 59, the Education and Youth Development Bureau with 57, and the Macau Polytechnic University with 54.
Among other questions, the Committee is asking the government whether the new 88 SSM recruits are related to the Islands Medical Complex.
Other questions are more general and related to policy, “as the lawmakers heard on several occasions from the Chief Executive, there is an intention to stabilize the number of civil servants and not to increase it,” Chan explained.
In response to a media inquiry, he said that the government has been saying for years that they constantly struggle with the lack of manpower and find it difficult to fill positions.
He also noted that besides the mentioned six entities that will hire more, “some services will reduce [their numbers],” adding that the estimated figure of 36,258 civil servants at the end of this year is also estimated to drop by “a couple of dozen” next year.
