Taxpayer coughs up for ‘labour costs’

Jo-Maré Duddy – The taxpayer paid about 41% more for the gross wages of public administration servants and defence members in the first quarter of 2020 than five years ago.

The first Government Wage Index, released by the Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) yesterday, consists of the gross wages of central government, excluding contributions to medical aid.

It “measures the changes in the price (wages) that government pays for labour”, the NSA said.

According to the NSA report, the public administration and defence sub-index stood at 141.2 in the first quarter of this year. The agency uses 2015 as basis year.

This is the highest the sub-index has registered since 2015. In the same quarter last year, it stood at 139.4.

According to the budget tabled by finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi in May, nearly N$3.7 billion has been allocated for the total remuneration of the ministry of defence and veteran affairs in 2020/21. This amount increases to about N$4.3 billion once medical aid and other benefits are included.

Education, health

The new Government Wage Index consists of two more sub-indices: education and health.

The health sub-index reached 125.5 at the end of the first quarter, an increase of 25.5% compared to 2015. For the same three months in 2019, the sub-index was 134.4.

The sub-index for education stood at 126.2 compared to 126.9 at the end of the first quarter in 2019.

Overall, the Government Wage Index registered 134.5 at the end of March 2020, implying an increase of 34.5% compared to 2015.

Government’s total wage bill, benefits included, for 2020/21 is estimated at N$28.7 billion.