Is government becoming a part-time job?

The use of part-time workers in all spheres of government is escalating wildly and more than cancelling out the effect of a freeze on new permanent positions in provincial departments.

Part-time workers in all government spheres rose by 70% in 2014 to 470 176, according to Stats SA.

A large chunk of that stems from what the agency calls “other government”, which includes various agencies and universities, but the trend is visible in all spheres.

The annual compendium of South African statistics covering 2014 was published on Thursday, and gives the split between part-time and full-time workers in all formal sectors – information lacking in the regular quarterly formal employment data.

In his medium-term budget review last month, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene claimed that government employment had been dropping since 2012, with the provincial departments now employing about 2% fewer people than in 2012.

According to Nene, jobs in the provinces had dropped to 913 033 by March and then by another 10 000 afterwards.

What he didn’t mention was that part-time workers in those provincial departments had continued to increase faster than the permanent ones were leaving.

According to the Stats SA figures, 7 000 permanent jobs were cut in the provincial departments between 2013 and 2014, but part-time jobs rose by 32 000 to 203 407.

In reality, the provincial government workforce is still increasing every year, despite Treasury’s repeated insistence that headcounts could not rise further.

National departments have experienced the same trend since 2012. Permanent jobs have decreased marginally two years in a row, but part-time jobs rose by 10%, to 44 516 last year.

The department of public service and administration committed to explaining the rise by Friday afternoon, but did not.

Stats SA also committed to responding to queries, but did not do so by Friday afternoon.

Some of the increases are so large it seems likely they stem from a mistake or the inclusion of new entities in the numbers.

At local government level, the increase in part-time workers is more extreme, but off a lower base. Local government increased its part-time workers by 89%, to 53 711, now making up 17% of workers at that level, according to Stats SA.

The most extreme and baffling shift to part time has, however, occurred in the “other government” sector, which includes universities and parastatals.

Their part-time workers increased by an incredible 348%, to 168 482, far surpassing the number of permanent employees: 107 339.