‘8,764 employees exit public service in Q1 2015’

THE National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that a total of 8,764 public servants in various cadres exited the service within the first quarter (QI) of 2015.

The figure, which indicates fresh employment gaps in the public service, also revealed that 5,726 number of new employees gained employment into public service within the period under review.

A close study of 2015-quarter one Job creation survey made available to The Guardian showed that employees who exited due to retirement age limit were highest with 5,507 or 62.84% of total exit in the period.

This was however closely followed by exits caused by death with a total of 1,422 employees or 16.32% of government workers.

Workers who left the service as a result of retrenchment came third with a total of 124 representing 1.41% of overall exits.

The report also indicated that out of the total figure of 8,764 exits, male workers were more with 6,252 or 71.34%, while the female gender constituted 28.66% or 2,512 employees who bowed out of service.

“The first quarter, 2015, had a total of 8,764 staff exiting public service. When compared with number of new employees (5,726), it reveals more people exited the public service than came in, by as much as 3,038 personnel, translated to 53%.

“Employees exited due to retirement had the highest number of 5,507 or 62.84% of total exit, followed by exit through death with 1,422 employees or 16.23 %. Retrenched employees were the least group among exited with 124 employees or 1.41% of total exit. Out of the total number of employees exited, male accounted for 6,252 exits or 71.34%, while female constituted 2,512 exits or 28.66%”, the bureau said.

However, at the Formal employment cadre, which refers to establishments or professions that employ 10 persons and above, the classification of employee exits by gender revealed that fewer females than males exited formal employment with 38,950 in Q1 2015, representing 40.15% of total exits, as compared to 58,070 male exits or 59.85% of the total.

The education sector recorded the highest number of both male and female exits, with 20,059 male exits or 20.67% and 15,929 female exits or 16.42% of all exits in the sectors.

Further breakdown of figures indicated that the highest levels of exits within the quarter under study were Managerial, Professional and Technical Workers Cadres respectively. They had the highest number of employee exits with 32,893 employees or 33.90%, followed by ‘Operatives’, which accounted for 29,870 or 30.79% workers.

“This cadre maintained its dominance as the cadre with the highest exits from the fourth quarter of 2014 to the first quarter of 2015. The cadre with the second highest number of exits was an operative in which 29,870 workers exited representing 30.79 per cent of the total. The unpaid workers cadre recorded the fewest exits with 869 Workers quitting or 0.90 per cent of the total,” the NBS said.

On the reverse side, the NBS maintained that a total number of 469,070 jobs were carved out in Q1 2015,representing an increase of 26.95% over and above the number of jobs created in the preceding quarter and 94.7% more than the total number of jobs recorded in the same period of 2014. In the formal sector, 130,941 new jobs were said to have been generated, representing 27.92% of total jobs generated in Q1 of 2015.

“This is a decline of 5.13% (7,085) when compared to the fourth quarter of 2014 but a 72.3% increase when compared to the same period in 2014. There was also a 30.5% (1,339) increase in the number of jobs created in the public sector of the economy, making it 5,726 new jobs generated in the public sector.

“In the 1st quarter of 2015, the jobs generated in the public sector represent 1.2% of the total jobs generated during the reference period. Under informal jobs, which typically consists of jobs generated by individuals or businesses employing less than 10 or those businesses operating with little or no structures for example, those in Agriculture and Wholesale and Retail Trade.

“In the first quarter of 2015, 332,403 new jobs were created in this sector, compared to the 227,072 new jobs in the 4th quarter of 2014; this signifies a 46.39 per cent increase between the two periods. This sharp increase is very much expected, given the numerous informal economic activities that come up during the election period,” the report said.