Statistical data on state employees published

Mozambique's Minister for the Public Service, Victoria Diogo, has launched the first edition of the Statistical Yearbook on the public administration, based on the information obtained in the census of state employees in 2007, and subsequently updated. The statistics show that, in August 2008, the Mozambican state employed 167.420 people, 111.732 of whom were men and 55.688 women. The majority of these people are teachers and other education workers. The national education service employs 105,111 people, or 63 per cent of the total state work force. The health service employs 24.225, which is 14.5 per cent. Thus over three quarters of all state employees work in education or health. The state apparatus is relatively young. Diogo said that 121.525 of its employees are aged between 26 and 48. As for academic level, only eight per cent have a university degree, and 25 per cent have mid-level education. 42 per cent have not progressed beyond secondary education, and 25 per cent only have primary education.

Leading positions in the state are still heavily dominated by men. 76 per cent of the 198 national directors are men, and 64 per cent of the 98 deputy national directors. 69 per cent of the 576 central department heads are men. The same pattern can be seen in the provinces and districts. 78 per cent of provincial directors and 76 per cent of district permanent secretaries are men. And of the 94 inspectors in various central state bodies, 87 (93 per cent) are men, and only seven are women. (Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique, Maputo)