Press Release 17/12/2021

DIRECTORY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS. 01/01/2021

Basque Administrations employed 142,526 people in 2021, 1.9% more than the previous year

The prevalence of women in the Basque Administrations has become increasingly marked, with this group now accounting for 63.8% of the total

Basque Public Administrations (without taking into account personnel working in the State Administration and the Social Security System) relied on 142,526 people working as of 1 January 2021, according to Eustat data. The number of people employed in the Basque Administration has increased year on year, standing at 2,639 more people in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 1.9%.

Prevalence of women in the Basque Administration

As has been seen in recent years, there was a growing prevalence of women in the Basque Administration: 63.8% of employees were women (0.7 percentage points more than on 1 January 2020), against 36.2% men, who registered the same decrease. Since 2016, women have gained 2.2 percentage points; specifically, the number of women increased by 3.1% in 2021, while the number of men even fell slightly (-0.1%).

This figure was significantly higher in the case of the Basque Government and its dependent bodies, where the percentage of women reached 70%. With a feminisation rate eleven percentage points lower were the Provincial Councils, where, as a whole, the percentage stood at 58.9%. Lastly, the ratio of men and women in local entities was fairly even: 50.6% men to 49.4% women.

Structure in the Basque Public Administrations according to regulatory framework

As of 1 January 2021, civil servants made up 61.7% of the total number of people employed in the Basque Public Administrations, two tenths up on the previous year following a rise of 2.2%, slightly above the total (1.9%); 37.3% were staff, in both cases including statutory personnel of the Osakidetza (the Basque Health Service), and 0.9% corresponded to senior posts.

Full-time permanent employees, civil servants, staff and statutory workers accounted for 56.5% of total employees as of 1 January 2021, 1.2 points down on the previous year following a downturn of 0.1%; interim civil servants represented 17.9%, just over one point higher than in 2020, following an increase of 9.0%. This evolution of interim civil servants occurred in all the Basque Administrations, but most notably in the Basque Government (12.2%). As for temporary staff, the proportion remained the same with regard to the previous year’s total (24.6%), after rising 1.8%. It is worth highlighting the increase in this category of personnel in the Provincial Councils and dependent bodies, which experienced by far the highest growth (10.8%). Overall, the total number of interim civil servants and temporary staff grew by 4.7% in 2021 compared to the previous year.

Distribution of personnel by type of administration in question

Of the 142,526 people employed by the Basque Administration as of 1 January 2021, 65.2% worked for the Administration of the Autonomous Community, 18.8% worked for Local Entities, 8.4% worked for Provincial Councils, and the remaining 7.6% were employed by the University, Foundations and other Public Bodies. Over the last year, there was a slight rise (0.6 percentage points) in the General Administration of the Basque Government and its dependent bodies, whereas local entities and their dependent bodies registered a slight decrease of 6 tenths; the remaining Basque entities maintained their proportion of the total.

If we look at the evolution of the average number of staff in relation to 2015, the number of people working in the Basque Administrations increased by 11,880, an average accumulative rate of 1.5%. In absolute values, the Basque Government, together with all the entities mainly dependent on it, increased the number of staff by 7,780 people, with an average accumulative variation of 1.5%. The group referred to as Other Public Bodies, which covers, amongst others, the University of the Basque Country, Foundations, Public Associations, etc., came in second place with 1,548 more people, despite being that which, as a whole, registered the highest average accumulative variation, with growth of 2.6%. The Provincial Councils occupied third place, with 1,433 more people and an average accumulative rate of 2.1%. Lastly, there were the Local Entities with 0.7% and 1,121 more people.

With regard to 2020, a year marked by COVID-19, the number of staff working in the public administrations grew by 2.2%, a rate higher than the accumulative average for the period in question. Of particular note was the 3.1% increase in personnel working in the Basque Government.

Distribution of personnel by province in question

By province, Bizkaia accounted for 49.3% of the total of employed people, followed by Gipuzkoa, with 29.8%, and finally Álava, with the remaining 20.9%, a distribution with little change compared to that of 2020. There was a slight rise of five tenths in Bizkaia and one tenth in Gipuzkoa, whereas Álava saw a decrease of six tenths.

Methodological note: The Directory of Public Administrations comprises the General Administration of the Basque Country, Provincial Councils and City Councils, together with the Autonomous Administrative Bodies, Public Entities and non-profit Foundations and Institutions that depend on these. All entities whose public stake is equal to or greater than 50% are included, whether that stake be held by a single administration or jointly by various public administrations.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel.: 945 01 75 62