The Generalitat faces a paradox: more people are employed within the public institution, yet it operates with fewer civil servants than in 2009. Management roles are less tied to permanent civil servants, and a crisis in public human resources management has reshaped the belief that a career in the public sector guarantees stability. Today, temporary employment stands out, rising sharply over the past decade and creating concerns for the Consell in the near future.
According to the 2022 audit report from the Audit Office, the Autonomous Administration employed 156,783 people by the end of December. This marks an increase of about 35,000 workers compared with ten years earlier, a rise of 28.5 percent. Yet the growth comes with a reduction of 2,000 permanent staff compared to 2012, and a loss of about 10,000 permanent health workers from 2012 to 2022, dropping from 27,406 to 17,297. In 2022, permanent posts represented 45 percent of the Valencian public workforce, down from 69 percent when the rise began.
The Ombudsman Vincent Cucarella notes a striking rise in temporary employment overall. The dip in permanent civil servants is offset by new temporary hires, especially temporary staff, who nearly tripled in ten years—from 13,037 to 35,591 by the end of 2022. The same pattern appears for temporary legal staff, increasing from 18,607 to 41,729, resulting in nearly half of the workforce being temporary, up from 28 percent in 2012.
These shifts did not occur by chance. The main driver was a centralized renewal policy set by the national government in 2013 during the crisis, which limited the renewal of vacant positions. Facing staffing needs, the government-backed Consell del Botànic turned to temporary recruitment. Delays in public job searches further contributed to the reliance on temporary personnel. The arrival of the pandemic exacerbated the situation: between 2019 and 2020 the Generalitat’s workforce grew by about 13,000, nearly all temporary in nature.
Data from the Audit Office reflects a snapshot of 2022, a moment likely to change in the following twelve months and one that the current Consell will need to manage. The European Union pressed Spain to address this situation, aiming to reduce temporary employment to 8 percent. Achieving that target will be challenging, although stabilization processes have been opened for up to 7,500 positions in the Valencian Public Service since 2017 and 4,500 stabilization places for health care recently announced.
Problems at the end of the year
Many stabilization processes stem from the decree law issued at the end of 2021 to reduce temporary employment in public roles. These measures seek to stabilize positions occupied by temporary workers. Unions have warned that not all openings can be filled by temporary hires, and the Consell approved an extraordinary call at the end of the year. It was noted that most of these positions would not be filled by temporary staff but would be filled through internal promotions for officials.
For the Consell, the real challenge will arrive at the end of 2024. The stabilization law became effective on December 28, 2021, and from that moment on, seconded workers could not keep working beyond three years. After that period ends, the temporary arrangement lapses and the vacancy can only be filled by career civil servants, unless a relevant selection process is invalid, which could lead to compensation for those involved.