Employment, Estonia, Labour-market, Markets and Companies

The Ministry of Finance on Monday presented the civil service report for 2019, which summarizes the most important developments and personnel indicators of state and local government agencies.

Last year, 132,333 people worked in the public sector, which is 0.08% more than a year earlier. Since 2008, the number of public sector employees has decreased by 13,333 people or 9%, the Ministry of Finance said.

In 2019, people working in civil service accounted for 4.2% of all employment in Estonia. In seven years, the number of civil servants has decreased by 2,322 people or 7.8%. Of the civil servants, 22,059 worked in state institutions and 5,569 in local government institutions. More than a third of civil servants were special service officials, including police and prison officers and rescue workers.

The average age of a civil servant was still 43.5 years last year, but the average age is on the rise. There are slightly more women than men, while there are more younger men in special services.

The share of people with higher education in the civil service is significantly higher than in Estonia as a whole. The share of people with higher education in all employed persons in Estonia was 42%, while 61% of civil servants have higher education.

Last year, the average gross monthly salary of state officials was 1,877 euros, increasing by 8.6% y-o-y, and the average gross monthly salary of local government officials was 1,692 euros, increasing by 5.3% y-o-y. The average gross monthly salary of the government sector was 1,494 euros, increasing by 9.9% y-o-y. Estonia's average gross monthly salary increased by 7.4% to 1,407 euros.

"Although in recent years, government decisions have helped to improve the competitiveness of civil servants' salaries, they are still lagging behind compared to the private sector, meaning a higher salary is paid for a similarly complex job in the private sector than to public employees," Minister of Public Administration Jaak Aab said.

He noted that in 2019, the average monthly basic wage gap of state institutions was 11.7% of the median private sector wage. "The gap between top specialists is even greater. The country's top specialists and first-level managers have an average pay gap of -18% with the private sector," said Aab.

At the same time, he stated that the salary levels of large groups of state employees, such as teachers, employees of special care institutions, rescuers, police officers and cultural workers, have improved.

In addition to staff numbers, the report provides an overview of staff costs, recruitment and selection, the pay gap, staff turnover, development and training activities, ethics and the civil service legal framework. The report prepared by the Ministry of Finance is now submitted to the government and the Riigikogu for approval.