Greek state sector: In which ministries and agencies are recruitments coming

More than 13,000 civil servants are retiring this year, following the wave of retirements that have occurred in the last three years.

Specifically, for 2023, it is estimated that 13,287 civil servants will retire, when 14,571 employees left in 2022, while in 2024 the rate of departures is expected to slow down as it is estimated that 7,842 employees will leave.

Greek Fin.Min.: In 2024 we will proceed with the same recipe

Wave of departures

In recent years, as mentioned in the final text of the budget, there has been a large wave of departures due to retirement from the bodies of the Central Administration. Most retirees who “open the door” to retirement come mainly from the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of National Defense and Citizen Protection.

For 2024, the majority of retirements with a percentage of approximately 40% comes from the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs. The departures of civil servants from two ministries only the Ministry of Education and Health account for 63% of all departures

Where recruitment will take place

For 2023, the appointments implemented until 30.09.2023 amount to 7,803. In the Ministry of Education, Religion and Sports in 2022, 3,772 permanent primary and secondary education teachers were appointed. In addition, at the Ministry of National Defense, 1,335 admissions were made to military schools, while it is expected that 1,700 Professional Soldiers will be recruited by the end of this year.

Also, 1,150 appointments were made in the Ministry of Citizen Protection, of which 910 are related to admissions to productive training schools and 743 appointments were made in the Ministry of Health. The needs in the health sector were met with 3,500 new recruitments and renewals of contracts of auxiliary staff, whose salaries are charged to the budget of the organizations in which they are employed.

In the year 2024, new appointments and recruitments are expected to reach approximately 20,000, which include the estimated recruitments to be implemented based on the recruitment planning of the year 2024 (including admissions to military schools) as well as recruitments (within the 1:1 rule ) that were not implemented in previous years. Of all the approved recruitment of permanent staff, the largest part is directed to two critical sectors of the state, health and climate crisis, with recruitment approvals reaching 6,500 in the Ministry of Health and 990 in the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, respectively.

The fund for civil servants

For the year 2023, the total expenditure on employee benefits is estimated to reach 14.15 billion euros. Of the total expenditure on employee benefits borne by the regular budget, the largest part of it (80% of the total expenditure) is paid to the four Ministries in which the largest part of all employees are employed, namely Education, Religion and Sports (33% ), in National Defense (19%), in Health (16%) and in Citizen Protection (13%), while the remaining 20% of the expenditure is paid by the other agencies of the Central Administration. For the year 2024 the total expenditure on employees will increase significantly and is estimated to reach 14.85 billion euros.

The increase is mainly due to the reform of the public sector payroll.