— but salaries increased between 0.5 and seven per cent

EMPLOYMENT in the public sector declined by 11.1 per cent in 2018 due to lower recruitment in the core civil services.

“There was lower recruitment in the core civil services by 0.5 per cent, which represented 63.1 per cent of total public sector employment,” said the Bank of Guyana (BoG) in its 2018 annual report.

In the rest of the public sector, employment fell by 29.4 per cent. Employment in public corporations contracted on account of lower recruitment by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and financial institutions by 39.2 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively.

Despite the decline in employment, employment costs increased by G$5 million, moving to G$59.4 million. This reflected developments in wages, salaries, and benefits of public servants.

Aside from the downfalls in 2018, the government had awarded public servants salary increases ranging from 0.5 per cent for the highest scale, that is $1 million and above per month, to 7.0 per cent on the lowest scale, that is up to $100,000 per month.

Public servants who earned salaries between G$100,000 and G$299,999 per month gained an increase of 6.5 per cent, while those earning salaries between G$300,000 and G$499,999 per month gained an increase of 5.0 per cent.

The salary increases were retroactive from January 1, 2018 and was free of income tax. The public sector monthly minimum wage increased to G$64,200 per month. The income tax threshold remained at G$60,000.

Although private sector employment data is unavailable, developments were mixed in the private labour market.

According to BoG, the distribution, construction, transportation and storage and other services industries experienced job creation. Conversely, the local gold mining and fishing industries experienced reduced employment

Meanwhile, industrial unrest decreased in 2018; the number of strikes decreased to approximately 44 from 110 in 2017.

GuySuCo accounted for most of the strikes, which were related to wages, working conditions and other disputes.

When compared with 2017, there were lower total man-days lost by 58.0 per cent to 10,449 from 24,892 and wages lost fell by 56.9 per cent to G$28.7 million from G$66.5 million.

The reduced loss of man-days and wages in 2018 was attributed to the downsized operations at Rose Hall, Wales, Skeldon and Enmore sugar estates.