Poorest counties have most civil servants

Autor: Adelina Mihai 02.06.2010

The most civil servants in local administration work in Bucharest (60,900) and the counties of Iasi (27,100), Prahova (23,500), Timis (23,000), and Bacau (22,100), where there are three civil workers per 100 inhabitants. However, if considered against the number of inhabitants in every county, the most civil workers are to be found in some of the poorest counties in Romania, such as Vaslui, Salaj, Valcea, and Covasna, where GDP per capita is a lot lower than the country average, with four civil workers per hundred inhabitants.
The savings made by the state by laying off half of office employees could amount to almost three billion euros per year. The number of civil servants has risen four times over the last 20 years, but this has not meant higher efficiency. The cost cuts achieved by reducing the "bureaucratic apparatus" could keep the state from cutting salaries and numbers of productive staff - doctors and teachers.