RIGA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The number of public administration jobs in Latvia will be cut by 6 percent under a reform plan announced on Wednesday by Janis Citskovskis, the head of the Latvian State Chancellery.
The reform plan calls for a reduction of the number of public servants by 6 percent to 54,000 to streamline public administration.
Citskovskis declined to compare his plan to the failed reform conceived by the State Chancellery's previous head Martins Krievins, who also proposed massive layoffs, but drew strong criticism from the prime minister and eventually had to resign.
Citskovskis explained that his plan does not envisage mechanical job cuts but rather a reform that will change the way public servants work and provide services to the people.
"As I said, these will be people doing real public administration work," Citskovskis said, adding that the goal is to ensure that public servants do not make up more than 5 percent of Latvia's employed population.
According to authors of the reform plan, each year 20 percent of employees of the public administration sectors quit their jobs, as many of them are underpaid or see no meaning in the work they are doing.
