“The people, as a result of the blows caused by this crisis, due to the lack of employment in the private sector, go to the Assembly. I would not like to hire, I would not like to support, but when people come and say that they do not have money for medicine, that they do not have a job, one does not close the door to everyone”, with this statement, Deputy Leandro Ávila defended the increase in the payroll of the National Assembly.
He added that “the deputies are not offering jobs to anyone, but it happens that every 10 Panamanians with whom I speak, eight are asking for a job for a single reason: there is an unemployment crisis.”
According to reports from the Comptroller General of the Republic, last April, payroll wages in the State reached $404.7 million, the highest amount in the first four months of this year.
Compared to April 2021, when this expense was $389.6 million, there was an increase of $15 million. The accumulated wage bill in the public sector during the first four months of the year totaled $1.58 billion or $67 million more than in the same period in 2021.
In number of people, in April 2022, 249 thousand 101 officials were registered, of which 225 thousand 512 are permanent and 23 thousand 589 temporary.
