National riled by state sector jobs rise

John Key

National is on the warpath about the rapidly growing number of state sector employees, arguing that fresh figures show that one in every 50 jobs is now "as a bureaucrat".

The party's finance spokesman John Key yesterday released data from Statistics New Zealand which he said showed state sector jobs grew at more than double the rate of overall job growth in the year to June.

"These guys are on a hiring binge that's out of control," Mr Key said. "What's more, the big growth in Government jobs over the past six years has been in the head offices of ministries and departments - not in the number of teachers, doctors, nurses, and other workers out at the coal face."

The figures show that the number of Government jobs grew from 230,550 to 245,100 in the year to June, or at 6.3 per cent.

At the same time, the total number of jobs in the economy grew by 3 per cent, Mr Key said.

National has highlighted growth in the number of state jobs for some time, and argues that under Labour the sector is bloated.

National has also drawn attention to wage rises in the state sector, which Mr Key said were putting "undue pressure" on the economy and making life difficult for Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard in his battle against inflation.

In this area, National said, recent figures show state sector salaries grew by an average of 4.2 per cent last year, compared to average wage growth of 3 per cent in the private sector.

But Labour is offering no apologies for the sharp rise in state sector jobs - instead it argues the hiring is needed to "rebuild" a sector that was run down under previous National governments.

State Services Minister Annette King last night said that thousands more employees have indeed been hired, and "most work in the front line".

She said many of the new people were in police, teaching and health jobs, but support staff had also been hired.

The growing state sector has been an ongoing battleground between National and Labour, especially since it was highlighted in the Treasury's briefing to the latest Labour-led Government, released late last year.

In it, the Treasury suggested there was little information to indicate that New Zealanders were getting more services and better results from the public sector for the large increases in resources provided.