Over half a million people have joined the civil service with just an SPM certificate or lower as their academic qualifications, official statistics reveal.

In a written parliamentary reply on Wednesday, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Azalina Othman Said said as of Jan 1 this year, the civil service employed 275,375 SPM certificate holders.

A further 231,972 public servants were employed with either PMR, PT3, or UPSR as their only paper qualifications.

Meanwhile some 35,000 civil servants are STPM holders, while almost 192,000 have diplomas. Statistics for those hired with degrees or higher were not provided.

The percentage of public servants who joined with SPM qualifications or lower is 36.8 percent of the 1.38 million-strong civil service.

They also make up two-thirds of all support staff which numbers 785,000 people in the civil service.

Second Finance Minister Johari Abdul Ghani had said there is one civil servant for every 19.37 Malaysian, one of the highest ratio in the world.

Former Treasury secretary-general Mohd Sheriff Mohd Kassim had urged for the bloated civil service to be downsized to bring operational expenditure under control.

However, addressing the bloated civil service has been a politically difficult issue as they are seen as an important vote bank for the ruling coalition.

The data does not state when these civil servants were employed or how many were nearing retirement or have retired.

It also does not state whether those who used their SPM certs to apply for jobs in the civil service had higher qualifications or whether they attained higher qualifications after joining the civil service.

Malaysiakini has reached out to Azalina, chief secretary to the government Ali Hamsa and Congress of Union of Employees in the Public and Civil Services Malaysia (Cuepacs) president Azih Muda for comment.

Meanwhile, experts of the job market said it is unfair to say that the government had become the employer of last resort for those without a strong academic background.

Manpower Group Malaysia country manager Sam Haggag said most governments take a responsible attitude towards employment, as does Malaysia's.

"If there is an opportunity for people to be employed, I think any government would do that within the civil service," Haggag told Malaysiakini.

He added that there are many factors as to why many would seek out government jobs, and it is not because the civil service is the "lowest common denominator".

One such factor he said, may be due to the "predictability" of working hours, which would be preferable for those who for example, have elderly relatives to look after.

He also stressed that low academic qualifications does not mean a person is unintelligent, but that they may have not had the opportunity to pursue further studies due to socioeconomic circumstances.

Jobstreet Malaysia country manager Chook Yooh Ying, meanwhile, said whether it is the public sector or private sector, each vacancy has job requirements.

"The people who apply for these jobs must meet those requirements," Chook said.

However, she said that job prospects for those with just SPM qualifications or lower may be limited to those that don't require skills attained through tertiary education.

Haggag voiced similar views, but said that with the right skills, especially communication, those with low academic qualifications can find white collar jobs.

Meanwhile, the data provided by Azalina also gave a rough perspective of the salary scale for civil servants with diplomas or lower.

For those serving as administrative assistants (clerical/operations) their starting salary grade is N19, where the can earn a minimum RM1,352 and a maximum of RM4,003.

Azalina said the highest salary grade this group can achieve is N28, with a minimum salary of RM2,706 and a maximum salary of RM5,526.

As for those with diplomas and lower, employed under the 'penerbit rancangan' (producer) service scheme, their starting salary grade is B19, and they can be promoted up to B53.

Wages for those in grade B19 range from RM1,360 to RM4,032, while those in grade B53 can earn between RM6,124 to RM13,182.

Azalina was responding to query from Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh, who asked for a breakdown of civil servants who only had diplomas, STPM, SPM, or vocational certification, and what were the limits of their salary scales.