JAKARTA ~ The government will recruit 300,000 new public servants this year, bringing the total number of those working in the civil service to 3.9 million, a minister said.

Most of the jobs will be given to non-permanent staff already working for the government on a contract basis, said Taufik Effendi, the minister for the empowerment of the state apparatus.

But 50,000 will be new recruits, he said on Monday.

“The number of civil servants is 3.6 million and this year there is a plan to recruit 300,000 more,” he was quoted as saying by the state-run Antara news agency.

“The number of civil servants is, it is true, already in excess, but it would be impossible if there is no new recruitment of civil servants,” he said.

Around 900,000 people are working for the government on a contract basis, most for years, with about half of them in the education and health sectors.

The government has pledged to gradually absorb the contract workers into the permanent civil service.

Under the contract system, workers receive less pay and no added benefits such as housing, meal and transport allowances or pension benefits.