The Malta Employers’ Association aired concern this week about a practice that has long been happening.

Come every election, the public sector tends to inflate, taking people from the private sector to work public sector jobs.

In a statement on Monday, the Employers’ Association warned that workers are already jumping ship from the private to the public sector, as the pre-election "talent drain" begins to take hold.

The power of incumbency is at work.

The same MEA had, earlier in the month, proposed a moratorium on public sector jobs six months prior to an election, excluding for critical jobs.

Reports read that public sector employment increased by almost 500 jobs prior to the 2017 election.

This situation creates a number of problems. First of all, government’s recurrent expenditure, which is already high, will increase. This expenditure is not easily reduced in times when government income is not strong, such as right now, when the government had to spend millions on helping the economy survive the Covid-19 pandemic and didn’t have the income to balance it out.

In a situation where certain sectors are struggling to find workers, seeing the government poach workers could create serious problems.

The drain could cause private sector businesses to stall any expansion plans, which is counter-productive, as the success of the private sector benefits the economy.

The idea of ‘jobs for the boys’ and giving easy jobs for constituents in return for votes needs to stop. It is not ok for someone to feel like they can go to a government minister and ask them for a job. It is even worse for a government minister to adhere to that request. The same argument applies to MPs making such promises.

Public sector jobs are paid for by you and I. It is our taxes that pay for these jobs. If excess jobs are being created, then that is a waste of our taxes, which could be put to better use such as by improving quality healthcare, paying of the country’s debt, improving law enforcement etc.

Everyone knows public sector jobs are safe, so it would be that much harder to move people back into the private sector once there.

In addition, we want the best people for the job in public sector roles, not someone who has been promised a job by a politician just because they come from their constituency.

This practice is both immoral and impractical.

Obviously the hiring of teachers, nurses, doctors for example are needed and essential. So it is completely understandable that the government continue to employ such persons.

It is time for the political parties and the social partners to sit around a table and talk this out. In a time when certain sectors are in dire need of employees, this practice is damaging.