Lula opens the safe for another 8,000 hires

After a reduction of almost 12% in the federal civil service during the term of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL), a series of new competitions announced by the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) should once again increase the staff and spending on public servants.

On Tuesday (18), the Minister of Management and Innovation, Esther Dweck, announced the opening of 2,480 new effective vacancies for direct administration bodies of the Union, in addition to calling for another 546 approved in selection processes already in progress. The annual impact on public coffers should reach R$ 546 million.

Added to the 6,919 vacancies previously announced, the total number of effective positions opened in the federal public service by the current government reaches 8,360.

Another 8,141 people will be hired temporarily through a simplified selection process to meet the demands of the Demographic Census of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), as already authorized and announced in May.

In the coming days, the folder should also launch, together with the Ministry of Education, an ordinance to redistribute 5,000 vacancies for teachers and technicians among 149 federal educational institutions in Brazil. Thus, the number of public office vacancies announced since the beginning of the year would reach 23,086.

The government claims that with these initiatives it intends to reverse a downsizing of the public machine carried out during the Bolsonaro government, which ended with the lowest level of personnel expenditure since 1997, the year in which the National Treasury historical series began. The Union’s active staff fell from 630,700 civil servants on January 1, 2019 to 555,000 this year, a reduction of 11.9%.

As the dismissal of civil servants is only allowed under current legislation in rare situations (such as a final court decision or disciplinary administrative proceeding), the cut was basically due to the non-replacement of employees who retired or died.

The economic team led by former Economy Minister Paulo Guedes defended that the digitization of processes allowed the downsizing of the framework without prejudice to the quality of public services.

“The previous government was a little proud of the drop in the number of civil servants. In our view, this drop went beyond what would be reasonable in the face of, in fact, a digital transformation”, said the Minister of Management and Innovation on Tuesday. “You no longer need exactly the same amount, but the amount today is much lower than what would be needed to be able to provide good services to the population”, she continued.

In April, during a ceremony in which he sanctioned the bill to readjust the salaries of federal civil servants by 9%, President Lula defended the holding of public tenders to replace positions.

“It is not because we are in a developed world, from a digital point of view, that we will do without human beings. Human beings need human beings. Our relationship is a chemical relationship. And we need people behind the counter to greet, to smile to listen, to say yes, to say no,” she said.

With the intention, Lula repeats the movement made in his other two terms, between 2003 and 2010. After seeing the staff drop from 504.7 thousand to 493.3 thousand in the management of his predecessor, Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB), the PT raised the total number of civil servants to 580.3 thousand over eight years – an average of 10.9 thousand hires per year.

Government wants new rules for public tenders

As reported by the newspapers “Folha de S.Paulo” It is “The globe”, the government supports a bill (PL 2,258/2022), already approved in the House and pending in the Senate, which provides for changing the rules for public tenders in the country.

Among the main points of the project, “valid” stages, in addition to a written, objective, dissertation or oral test, are provided for, assessments of knowledge, skills and competencies, which would include simulating tasks at the station itself, psychological assessment, mental health examination and psychotechnical test, for example.

The project also provides for the possibility of online tests and regulates the holding of courses or training programs, which would take place after the selection tests and could be eliminatory, qualifying or both.

When contacted, the Ministry of Management and Innovation informed that it is studying the subject, but that it is not yet possible to present related data or information, which will be disclosed when possible.

The ministry also stated that it works, within this year’s budgetary limits, “to serve as many bodies as possible, aware that there is a deficit in several areas of public administration” and that, “at the moment, it seeks to identify where there is greater fragility in order to be able to resume the capacity of service and government action for the execution of public policies, through the strengthening and expansion of the workforce”.

New vacancies in public tenders announced this Tuesday (18)

• ANA – National Water and Basic Sanitation Agency: 40
• ANAC – National Civil Aviation Agency: 70
• ANATEL – National Telecommunications Agency: 50
• ANEEL – National Electric Energy Agency: 40
• ANS – National Supplementary Health Agency: 35
• ANTAQ – National Waterway Transport Agency: 30
• ANTT – National Land Transport Agency: 50
• ANVISA – National Health Surveillance Agency: 50
• BACEN – Central Bank of Brazil: 100
• CVM – Securities and Exchange Commission: 60
• IBGE – Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics: 895
• IPEA – Institute of Applied Economic Research: 80
• MDIC – Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services (ACE): 50
• MF – Ministry of Finance (AFFC): 40
• MGI – Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services (ATPS): 500
• MGI – Ministry of Management and Innovation in Public Services (EPPGG): 150
• MJSP – Ministry of Justice and Public Security: 100
• MPO – Ministry of Planning and Budget (APO): 100
• PREVIC – National Supplementary Pension Superintendence: 40

Nominations announced this Tuesday (18)

• ICMBIO – Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation: 160
• IBAMA – Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources: 257
• IPHAN – National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute: 102
• ANM – National Mining Agency: 27

Number of active civil servants from 1999 to 2023

Source: Statistical Panel of Personnel/Ministry of Planning and Budget

* Given until July/2023