Government current spending rose 5.6 percent through the first half of 2011, compared to the same period last year.According to the detailed tables of the Quarterly Bulletin of Statistics, Government’s current expenditure totalled $543.6 million in the January through June period, compared to $514.7 million in the same period this year.In the second quarter, there was a notable 8.4 percent increase in wages, salaries and employee overheads to $113.6 million, compared to $104.8 million in the same period last year. This represented an increase of $8.6 million from the first quarter.The increase was incurred despite Government’s declared intention to slash overtime costs and the implementation of a hiring freeze.According to the Finance Ministry, the spike related to higher spending on health insurance claims and pension benefits.“The reasons for these increases related to the payment of benefits under Government’s health insurance plan (health insurance claims) and Government’s Pension plan (Pension benefits),” the Finance Ministry stated in response to a question about the increases. “These are not paid from the Consolidated Fund.”Government has been more successful in trimming expenses on “other goods and services” which fell 12.9 percent in the second quarter to $96.5 million from $110.8 million in the same period last year.Total Government expenditure fell 3.3 percent to $289.8 million in the second quarter, impacted by a 36.2 percent fall in capital expenditure to $13.6 million. Current expenditure fell 0.8 percent to $276.2 million.According to the figures from the Department of Statistics, Government revenue was up by more than 11 percent in the second quarter and also through the first half of the calendar year. The April through June period saw a 23.7 percent increase in payroll tax receipts to $115.9 million, compared to $93.7 million in the same three months of 2010.Payroll tax ward levied at a basic rate of 16 percent in the fiscal year through March 31 and was rolled back to 14 percent from April this year.Employment income in the economy as a whole rose 2.2 percent from last year to $785.6 million in the April through June period.The increase was driven by a 10.3 percent increase in international business compensation, by far the largest-contributing sector, which paid out $253.4 million to employees.The largest employment income increase was the 31 percent rise seen in the hotels and restaurants sector, which rose from $12.5 million to $16.4 million.But the bad news continued in the construction sector, which saw a 23.8 percent decrease in employment income to $30.6 million, compared to $40.2 million in the second quarter of last year.The contraction in the construction industry was illustrated by a sharp decrease in the value of work put in place, which declined 55.5 percent to $31.8 million. Public sector jobs accounted for more than two thirds of this work done, with approximately $10 million relating to work on the new hospital and schools.There is also clearly a shortage of new work in the pipeline, with just the value of new projects put in place during the quarter totalling a meagre $5.5 million.