Neolib orgy: Europe middle-aged, Chirac gone | 9 comments (9 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

another tidbit (4.00 / 4)

At the same time, the burden of regulation has stifled innovation and growth, and the hefty cost of administering it is piling up debt for future generations. Over the past 20 years, a million extra civil servants have been recruited. Despite mini-reforms of pensions and health care on Mr Chirac's watch, the social-security deficit is heading for more than €1 billion ($1.3 billion) by 2009, say official estimates.

ooooh. A one billion deficit. Now that's scary. Not like a several hundred billion one, though.

And this bit of information, from INSEE:

Total number of civil servants (using the widest definition, last line in the table linked to above):

2 913,7
3 145,9
3 134,1

Oooh. A scary 220,000 increase (or 7%) in ten years.
Nothing like the 20% increase in 7 years under Blair:

>

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Fri Mar 16th, 2007 at 08:43:01 AM EST

Re: another tidbit (none / 1)

OECD of course has other figures for civil servants, and their data is incomplete, but there's this (.xls):

France         1985    1990    1997    1998
Central Government    2460200    2489600    2488300    2270100
Regional Government    1208200    1326400    1220500

It's hard to see where we're going to get an added million civil servants from since the mid-eighties.

OECD also shows public employment as a percentage of total employment (xls) as absolutely flat from 1985 to the late nineties at 21%.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Fri Mar 16th, 2007 at 11:01:57 AM EST
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Neolib orgy: Europe middle-aged, Chirac gone | 9 comments (9 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)