The Databank from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is a useful resource. Here is a quick look at overall gross voted current expenditure broken in three categories
- Pay and Pensions
- Social Welfare
- Non-Pay
From 1994 to 2011 gross voted current expenditure rose from €14 billion (30.0% of GDP) to €54 billion (34.3% of GDP). Here is the proportion of gross current voted expenditure that went on the three categories.
Pay and pensions as a percentage of current expenditure peaked at 41% in 1998 and had fallen to 37% by 2008. Since then social welfare expenditure has consumed an increasing proportion of current expenditure. If we look at the nominal amounts of expenditure.
We can see that all three categories are lower but the largest falls have been in non-pay current expenditure which has been falling since 2008.
The second chart illustrates what an appalling period of economic mismanagement was inflicted on the country fron 2001 to 2010.
ReplyDeleteIt illustrates too that non-pay was tackled vigourously early in the crisis.
What a pity that government did not show the same committment in other areas.
News that the Director of the OECD is just about to retire is a good illustration of just how inept government pay and pensions policy is.
The DPP (Mr Hamilton) is also taking his well earned rest.