Server readjustment can cost $ 10 billion and expand disparities, warns study

The 9% salary increase in a widespread manner to all federal public servants announced last Friday (11) by the government can represent an impact of about $ 10 billion annually on the budget, only considering active servers. The readjustment, which will be paid from May 2 with retroactive effect to January, will have linear application, which can deepen internal inequalities in functionalism and expand pressures on the public budget, as shown by a study by the Public Leadership Center (PLC).

Read more: Government will pay readjustment and retroactive to servers on May 2

According to Daniel Duque, PLC technical intelligence manager and research manager, the 9% increase for all federal servants comes after a significant loss in the purchasing power of wages, aggravated by inflation and the absence of corrections over the last few years. However, the study draws attention to the side effects of this readjustment.

“The increase in federal public sector remuneration emerges as a legitimate response to the servers’ claims. However, this salary replacement should not occur linearly for all careers,” says Duque.

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Data from the 2019, 2021 and 2023 Annual Social Information Relationship (RAIS) clearly show the salary reduction suffered by federal public servants over the last few years. During this period, the average remuneration fell from approximately R $ 15 thousand, in December 2019, to R $ 12 thousand, in the same month in 2023. On the other hand, celetist workers from the private sector kept higher salary stability, with a slight increase from R $ 3 thousand to R $ 3.1 thousand in this same period, noting that the negative scenario was mostly concentrated in the public career.

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Another point highlighted by the study is the growth in the number of federal servers. Between December 2019 and 2021, the total number of federal civil servants decreased from approximately 650,000 to 539,000, but by 2023 there was an expansion of servers reaching 738 thousand.

“It is essential to control widespread expansion in hiring servers, as this tends to significantly increase the fiscal impact associated with future salary adjustments. If the current number of federal servers were the same as 2019, the 9% adjustment would be just over $ 1 billion cheaper,” says Duque.

Also read: Study points out breach for PL supersalaries on functionalism ceiling

The PLC also points out that the salary difference between the federal public sector and the private sector has decreased in recent years, from 407% in December 2019 to 278% in December 2023. This is due to the salary award within careers and the composition effect, which stems from the changes in the relative weight of careers with different wage averages within the public service personnel structure.

“It is worth noting that, although the average salary has fallen, some specific careers had distinct trajectories, with significant increases of remuneration. An example is the management positions, which recorded significant salary appreciation even in the face of the general scenario of income retraction,” says Duque.