The number of registered full-time workers in the public sector has risen from 47,687 in December 2018 to 53,529 in December 2024, data from the National Statistics Office shows. This means that in that time period, the public sector has grown by 12.25%.

The number of employees in the public sector is 18% of the total number of employees in Malta.

This is a huge share of workers to have employed with the government, and particularly amidst challenges of labour shortages within the private sector - labour shortages which have super-charged the country's population boom and all the consequences that has brought with it.

Let's start from a premise: we need to keep in mind that the workers who staff our hospitals, clinics, police stations, army, and government schools are all public sectors, and will be factored into this tally. 

NSO data for instance shows that as at December 2024, the 12,562 people were employed by the public sector in education.  Another 12,522 were employed in human health and social work activities, while18,060 people were employed in the public administration and defence.

We have a strange paradox when it comes to the public sector.

On the one hand, constituted bodies say that Malta's public sector numbers should be curtailed.

William Spiteri Bailey, president of the Chamber, said that the public sector should be downsized and that workers should be upskilled. Spiteri Bailey described the public sector as "bloated beyond what is required" and commented that the "enormous" public sector deprives private industry of manpower.

Ivan Refalo, Malta Employers president, had told The Malta Independent on Sunday that the public sector has grown significantly over the years, and that its demand to recruit the right people oftentimes creates unhealthy competition with private employers. He added that while Malta Employers is not stating that the public sector needs to decrease in every area, there are still concerns that it is taking employees from the private sector, with "many members" of the association having reported raised such concerns.

Refalo had remarked that the association understands the need for the public sector to increase due to the increase in Malta's population, particularly regarding the increase in need for more doctors, nurses, teachers, police, and other such critical positions.

Meanwhile, many believe that there is a need for more resources and people working in certain public sectors, particularly health, education, and law enforcement.

This is probably one of the cases where both sides of the coin are actually right.

There is a need to strengthen certain public sectors such as healthcare and education, while in pretty much every interview that any newspaper has with a member of the police force, the need for more resources, including human resources, is also mentioned.

Yet, in other aspects the private sector also has a point.  In certain industries, private employers find themselves competing with the government for Maltese workers in particular - and the private sector can rarely compete with the stability offered by public sector employment.

Has the balance been struck?  It's difficult to say: yes the private sector says that there is a labour shortage and therefore they have no choice other than to bring over foreign workers to make up for it, but the bulk of foreign workers are being brought over in industries - such as hospitality and construction - where the government has nobody employed.

Can the public sector be more efficient in how it employs people in other sectors?  Most probably it can, and that efficiency is what it should be striving towards.