THE Government’s plan to spend more to “attract and retain” professionals needed to run the public bureaucracy has come in for scrutiny from the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ).

The PSOJ, in a release on Friday, in which it gave its thoughts about the $912-billion budget tabled earlier this month, expressed “concerns about the elevated level of employees’ compensation as a share of GDP [gross domesic product]”. GDP measures the value of total output in a country in a given year.

The concerns come as the budget for the next four years shows public sector compensation will exceed the nine per cent of GDP target set by the Government. In the upcoming fiscal year, public sector compensation is projected at 11.7 per cent of GDP, rising to 12.3 per cent of GDP in 2023/24 and peaking at 12.5 per cent of GDP in 2024/25 before declining slightly to 12.4 per cent of GDP in 2025/26. In dollar terms, the percentages work out at $290 billion in the next fiscal year, rising to $376 billion in 2025/26.

https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sunday-finance/elevated-concern-psoj-raises-issues-with-plans-to-exceed-public-sector-salary-target_244357