"On December 31, 2021, employment in the public administration sector stood at 733,495 jobs, an increase of 5,710 jobs (+0.8%) compared to December 31, 2011", advances the Ministry of the Modernization of the State and Public Administration in a communiqué on the SIEP, prepared by the Directorate-General for Administration and Public Employment (DGAEP).

The data show that this is the highest value since at least December 2011, when the number of jobs in the public administration was 727,785, having fallen from then until 2014, when it reached 656,376.

Minister Alexandra Leitão's office also points out that, compared to 2015, public employment increased by 11.3%.

SIEP data show that in the fourth quarter of 2021, year on year, the increase in public employment was 2% and, compared to the end of the previous quarter, there was a growth of 1.3%.

"According to the most recent data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the weight of public employment in the employed population in Portugal continues to be below the average for all OECD countries", underlines the ministry, adding that "also in the context of the active population and the employed population, the weight of public employment remains below the one verified in 2011".

The office highlights that "the weight of the Public Administration in the total active population was 14.3% in 2011 and, despite the pandemic context, it is 14.1% at the end of 2021".