The Finance Minister, Seth Terkper has disclosed that government will soon review the embargo which has been placed on public sector employment.<\/p>\n
The review will be informed by the next assessment stage of the Single Spine Pay Policy.<\/p>\n
In 2010, the government placed a ban on the recruitment of employees in the public sector to reduce the increasing wage bill.<\/p>\n
Some teachers complained that the embargo over the years has increased the rate of unemployment in the country.<\/p>\n
The Health Minister on September 4 gave indications that his Ministry will make a special case to Ministry of Finance to\u00a0allow the employment of health personnel<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/a>for the three regions of the north.<\/p>\n The sectors which have largely been affected by the embargo are health and education.<\/p>\n Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong> on Monday, Mr. Terkper explained that government is forced to freeze employment \u201cwhen the economy is not doing well\u2026but this is being reviewed.\u201d<\/p>\n [contextly_sidebar id=”0tZROXel1KV5m4z5rmR1BzhEceTcRKix”]The decision was also aimed at reducing the increasing public wage bill due to the payment of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).<\/span><\/p>\n He admitted that the ban on employment in the public sector\u00a0is overburdening the private sector .<\/p>\n The salary structure has been blamed for contributing the challenges the economy is facing but some economists and workers unions have dismissed government\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n The Finance Minister on April 1\u00a0told Parliament as part of measures to rationalize government expenditure<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>in 2014, a proposal of a moratorium on public sector wage increases in 2014, the continuation of the policy of a net freeze on employment into some sectors of the public service amongst others has been made.<\/p>\n But the announcement received widespread criticisms from labour organizations<\/strong><\/span><\/a> who in turn accused the government of indiscriminate spending and incessant borrowing.<\/p>\n However, Mr. Terkper says available data shows that \u201csome public sector pay may be at par or even higher than the private sector\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n He added that as \u201cfor as long as we are using budget resources to pay wages, you may go against productivity.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n By: Efua Idan Osam\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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