Almost eight out of every 10 employees in Catalonia work for the Generalitat in its different departments and public companies. In the 2024 budget project, the Department of Economy has reported that the Generalitat's public sector workforce will grow by 7,309 people this year (2.6% more), up to 290,196.
This expected increase is much higher than the 1.1% that the Generalitat expects to increase overall employment in Catalonia. With the forecast for 2024, the volume of public employees represents close to 8% of the global volume of workers in Catalonia with data from the fourth quarter of 2023: 3.7 million. Most of the increase in the public sector workforce is in health (3,200 more employees) and education (2,300).
In the last 14 years between 2010 and 2024, the public sector workforce has grown by almost 64,000 people. It's 28% more. The global payroll to pay these public employees rises to 8,766 million in the 2024 accounts that the Minister of Economy, Natàlia Mas, delivered today to the Parliament. One in every five euros of this year's budget will be used to pay public employees.
The accounts highlight that the Generalitat's expected debt over GDP is 29.5% but with the cancellation of a part of the FLA (Autonomous Liquidity Fund) the percentage will be reduced to 23.6%. Councilor Mas has explained that it is not possible to know if the condonation will take place this year.
In the bill, the expected deficit is 0.1%, as marked by the State.
Regarding the macroeconomic picture, the Generalitat foresees that the GDP will grow by 1.8% in 2024 while the unemployment rate will reduce by one tenth and will remain at 9.2%.
