On Wednesday, the comptroller general of the Republic, Marta Acosta, insisted on approving the legislation to arrange the salary incentives in the public sector. Acosta made the statement at a hearing in the special commission of the Legislative Assembly, which is studying the bill to strengthen public finances.
You have to make decisions to solve this issue, which is structural, it’s not easy, but the first steps must be taken,”
said the Comptroller, who also explained the public employment is fundamental for economic and social growth, but it should be vigorous, fair, balanced, equitable, and transparent.
Acosta pointed out that the principles that should govern remunerative schemes in the public sector are:
-The same salary must be given for the same work performed under the same conditions.
-The compensation levels should be reviewed periodically to guarantee the validity of the scheme.
The proposed measures, according to Acosta, would have a positive impact on the governance, production, and distribution of public goods and services, economic policy, implementation of fiscal policy, and fiscal sustainability.
She added that if the uniform salary regime were applied gradually to newly-hired public officials, the salary expense would be slightly higher than the expenses that would arise from maintaining the current conditions for all officials during the first 12 years, but they would see the opposite effect afterwards.
A report by the Comptroller General of the Republic (CGR) revealed last week that the disorder with wage incentives causes differences of up to ¢3 million in the salaries of employees who have the same position in the Central Government. The study even concluded that there are officials who earn more than their own bosses and that there are incentives based on performance, but that they are given to everyone equally. It also determined that salary incentives represent 44.3% of the income of public employees.