Govt plans to hire fewer civil servants next year

The government has agreed in principle to recruit 1,600 civil servants in 2021 in line with a proposal made by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Deputy Minister Mr Khammoune Viphongxay told Vientiane Times recently that the quota for 2021 will be smaller than the 2,000 people recruited as state officials this year.
“We will hire fewer people next year because we want to reduce the excessive number of state officials we currently employ,” he said.
Budget constraints have forced the government to further streamline its structure to reduce administrative costs amid plummeting revenue and economic difficulties as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The cabinet’s monthly meeting chaired by Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith on September 17-18 discussed the circumstances surrounding civil servants this year before debating the requirement for new government officials in 2021.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has been instructed to work with the sectors involved to define the needs of each sector based on a new, streamlined structure as stipulated by government policy.
“We allocate quotas to sectors of government based on their needs. However, every sector must provide us with job descriptions and a detailed outline of their requirements for new civil servants,” Mr Khammoune said.
He was unable to say whether the education and health sectors would be granted priority in the allocation of new civil servants next year because more information was needed.
“I have observed that there are more teachers in towns but fewer in rural areas so it’s hard to say whether the overall demand for teachers is still high,” he said.
“We will work with the relevant sectors to identify their needs and then report to the government again.”
During the cabinet meeting, the sectors responsible were advised to consider setting up a fund to support volunteer teachers and medical doctors in deprived areas. However, those sectors should not make any promise to volunteers concerning civil servant quotas.
Currently, the number of civil servants stands at over 170,000 which is more than necessary, according to Mr Khammoune.
The government is attempting to restructure state organisations and increase officials’ responsibilities, saying that if one person can do more and better work it reduces state expenditure.
In 2017, 5,000 new civil servants were recruited in state sectors, with the figure falling to 3,000 in 2018 and further to 1,500 in 2019.
Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith told the National Assembly in 2017 that Laos needed to re-allocate officials in response to the needs of the country. “We cannot take more than 3,000 as this would go against the rules,” he said.
The prime minister said Laos is ranked ninth among the 10 Asean countries in terms of the number of public sector employees, which is seen as an excessively high percentage in comparison to the total population.

By Somsack Pongkhao
(Latest Update September 24, 2020)