Catalonia had 319,759 civil servants in January 2019, which translates to 41.3 public servants per thousand inhabitants. That's the lowest level of anywhere in Spain, according to a new report from Observatori Pimec called "Public employees in Catalonia and Spain (2013-2019)".
The number of civil servants has increased 2.3% since January 2013, the year taken by the report to represent the end of the financial crisis. Now, 12.3% of all Spain's public servants are based in Catalonia. Of these, only 8.1% work for the central administration, compared to 55.1% for the Catalan administration, 28% for local governments and 8.8% the universities.
At the same time, civil servants represent 9.3% of all those employed in Catalonia, similarly the lowest level in Spain. Pimec notes that this "contrasts, for example, with the levels higher than 15% recorded by Castile-La Mancha, Castile and León, Aragon [and] Asturias, and with the 23.4% recorded by Extremadura".
As for the ratio of public employees to inhabitants, in the Castiles and Aragon there are between 66 and 69 per thousand, over 60% more than in Catalonia. Again, the "most extreme case" is Extremadura, with 84.5 per thousand residents.
The report says these lower figures for Catalonia are due "in good part to the singular and widespread system of public sector-private sector agreements, by virtue of which private operators offer services [...] to the administration".
The increase since 2013 came mostly in the universities (11%) and the Catalan administration (13%). The number of civil servants employed by local administrations only increased 2.3%, whilst those employed by the Spanish administration dropped 14.7%.