Only 1 civil servant for every 85 inhabitants: Solothurn has had enough of the proliferation of civil servants

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How many civil servants does a canton need? This question is currently being discussed in Solothurn. And on March 3, the people will decide. The FDP is calling for an initiative to reduce the number of civil servants in the canton. There should be one civil servant for every 85 inhabitants.

“The initiative is a disciplinary measure for the canton council,” says Simon Michel (47), state councilor of Solothurn, who helped launch the initiative. “The left-wing part of the canton council, with the support of the center party, has handed over more and more orders to the authorities in recent years, thus inflating the number of civil servants.”

In fact, the number of civil servants in the canton has increased by 561 over the past decade to 3,465 full-time positions. At the end of 2022, there was one civil servant for every 81 inhabitants in Solothurn.

The government relies on additional tasks

The Solothurn government – which rejects the initiative – explains the increase by taking on additional tasks, for example by taking over police duties from the Olten city police. “A change in the inventory is mainly based on the defined services that the canton must provide.”

The government also sees legal problems: if the vote is yes, a new reason for termination would have to be created. ‘That’s an excuse. There is a transition period of two years. During this time there is natural departure and retirement,” says Michel.

The cantonal government sees it differently. The service must be maintained to the same extent. “From this perspective, it is clear that the mentioned natural deviations should be replaced 1:1.”

140 positions are at risk if the initiative is accepted

If the initiative is accepted, the canton would have to cut benefits and 140 jobs. Michel sees sufficient potential for this. “It is completely incomprehensible why the canton, for example, needs two calibration officers.” Solothurn would have to rely more on external service providers – which the government says will make things more expensive. “External employees are specialists and often do better work than internal new employees.”

The canton does not yet know where it will mine. “It requires a political decision-making process in which the government council, the canton council and, depending on performance, the people also have a say,” the cabinet wrote when asked.

Michel sees savings potential in education and healthcare. “For example, you should introduce minimum working hours for teachers – the many part-time workers make the system more expensive,” says Michel. “But I don’t have a patent solution either. The government must implement the initiative.”

Solothurn in midfield

But are there actually that many civil servants working in the canton of Solothurn? What is it like in other cantons? Blick looked at the figures for 2022. It turns out that Solothurn is only in the middle of the field.

In the urban cantons of Basel-Stadt (1 civil servant per 23 inhabitants), Geneva (1:29) or Zurich (1:57), many more cantonal employees work in proportion to the population than in rural cantons such as Thurgau (1:57). 146), Obwalden (1:113) or Schaffhausen (1:107).

One thing is clear: the numbers are difficult to compare. Like everywhere else, the cantons also operate on a federalist level when it comes to their administration. Depending on the situation, staff for schools, refugee care, social assistance, waste management or hospitals are then assigned to the individual municipalities, the canton or external third parties.

Bilingual or trilingual cantons also experience a higher workload in their administrations than cantons with only one official language. For example, the canton of Freiburg (1:20), leader in the per capita comparison. The reason is simple: all services must be offered at least bilingually.

Source:Blick