Over the past decade, despite repeated government promises to reduce public sector employment, the number of public administration employees in Montenegro has steadily increased. Between 2019 and 2024, the workforce grew at an average annual rate of 2.12 percent, reaching a total of 54,276 employees in 2024, including 47,284 at the central level.
Data from the Ministry of Finance, used by the State Audit Institution (DRI), show that public administration employment rose by 5,387 over five years, from 48,889 in 2019 to 54,276 in 2024. At the central level, the number of employees increased from 42,379 in 2019 to 47,284 in 2024, while at the local level it grew from 5,466 in 2016 to 7,092 in 2024.
The DRI conducted an audit to evaluate the effectiveness of efforts to establish optimal administration during public administration reforms. The audit, led by Senator Branislav Radulović with Dr. Milan Dabović, concluded that the process from 2016 to 2025 was not sufficiently effective and failed to achieve the planned results. Specifically, the measures implemented did not reduce public sector employment.
The 2016–2020 public administration reform strategy aimed to improve human resource management and establish systems to optimize staffing and measure performance, with three main indicators and 33 sub-activities planned. Only 14 sub-activities (42 percent) were completed, achieving the target for only one of the three indicators.
The 2022–2026 reform strategy, under the 2022–2024 action plan, set the operational goal of “optimal administration” with two indicators and eight activities. By the audit period, only one indicator had been realized, while the second had no target value. Two operational structures formed to monitor implementation failed to carry out their duties as required, providing incomplete analysis and failing to inform the Public Administration Reform Council about delays and challenges.
The audit also found that the council lacked a proactive role in establishing functional coordination for monitoring strategy implementation. In general, reforms focused on regulatory changes and formal documentation, while cross-departmental cooperation, IT integration, oversight implementation, capacity development, and cultural changes were largely unaddressed. DRI representatives concluded that the reforms were highly formalized without meaningful transformation, raising concerns about sustainability and the achievement of planned results.
Due to the significance of these findings, the audit report was submitted to the Parliamentary Committee for Economy, Finance, and Budget for review.
