A study by Jean Hindriks and Alexandre Lamfalussy (UCLouvain) shows that we pay much more than our neighboring countries. Local authorities are the greediest. Rationalization is possible.
The weight of administration in Belgium is disproportionate. If the observation deserves some nuance, it is still the conclusion of the study devoted to the number of public jobs, carried out by Jean Hindriks and Alexandre Lamfalussy, from UCLouvain.
“We spend 6,718 euros more per capita on the Belgian public administration than the EU-27 averagethey write in their conclusion. In particular, we spend 1,697 euros more per capita than France, 2,194 euros more per capita than the Netherlands, 3,072 euros more per capita than Germany, and 5,092 euros more per capita than Italy.” It’s substantial.
If few savings margins exist in education or health, however, there are possible economies of scale at the level of local authoritieswhich employ a third of all civil servants in the country. “I wouldn’t say that there is fat, but there is certainly room for rationalizations,” Jean Hindriks tells us. Mergers of municipalities are possible. In any case, we must stop with the creation of additional structures as we envisage with supra-communality.”
Slower growth than the private sector
“At the end of 2022, Belgium had 962,831 public jobs in the strict sense in FTEincluding 50% at the level of communities and regions, 30% at the level of local administrations and 20% at the level of federal administrations, underlines the study. Teaching represents 3 out of 4 public jobs at regional and community level.”
“It’s considerable, but it is necessary to qualify by specifying that the growth of these public jobs was less significant private employment in recent years,” explains Jean Hindriks.
“Public employment saw an increase of 4.9% between 2017 and 2022with a drop of 2.8% at the federal level, offset by an increase of 6.8% at the level of federated entities, we can read in the report. Within the federated entities, the increases are respectively 21.7% in the Brussels Region, 9.1% in the Walloon Region, 8.8% in the Flemish Region and Community, 5.3% in the French Community and 4.3% in the level of cities and towns.” Transfers of skills modify the balance of power, but the significant growth in the Brussels Region is edifying.
“In 2015, the number of jobs (FTE) in the private sector (not including the self-employed) amounted to 2,038,858, adds the study, corroborating Jean Hindriks’ nuance. In 2023, this figure increased to 2,241,153, an increase of 10%.”
A contrasting relationship with Flanders
Contrary to what one might think, the gap between French-speaking entities and Flanders is not glaring. The density of public employment in the broad sense (per capita) is comparable between Flanders and Wallonia, we read. Public employment is measured at the workplace. In 2022 there will be 11.1 public jobs per 100 inhabitants in Wallonia compared to 10.4 public jobs per 100 inhabitants in Flanders and 7.7 public jobs per 100 inhabitants in Brussels.”
However, the gap is wide between North and South when it comes to cities and towns. “At the level of local administrations, we observe a large regional disparity in the density of public jobs with 7.9 FTE per 1000 inhabitants in Flanders compared to 11.2 FTE in Wallonia and 13.8 FTE in Brussels (almost double the local administrative density of Flanders).”
This is information that will not fall on deaf ears as the deterioration of local finances has just been highlighted by a Belfius report and the refusal of a Walloon loan by ING. “The example of the merger between Bastogne and Bertogne shows that it is possible to rationalize, even if it is complicated”, underlines Jean Hindriks. Economies of scale are possible, which would save between 100,000 and 200,000 euros per 1000 inhabitants.
As far as teaching is concerned, underlines the UCLouvain economics professor, the margins are less important and the shortages are real. The fact remains that 10% of teachers on the pay-roll are not in the classrooms: teaching detachments, furloughed, long-term sick… “It won’t be easy to bring them back,” he laments.
This report, after a first devoted to the number of public officials in our country, is a new stone in the pond demonstrating that our public management is very expensive.
