According to the seasonally adjusted data, there were 273 APS employees in Northern Tasmania as at June 30, 2019 - the lowest number since June 30, 2003, when there were 253 employees.

The Coalition introduced an average staffing level cap in 2015, which dictates that the total public service workforce remain about or below 2006-07 staffing levels.

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Meanwhile, Hobart's current APS staff numbers (3076) are at their lowest level since 2007 (3012).

Community and Public Sector Union Tasmania regional secretary Zac Batchelor said the slashed staffing levels in the North were impacting service delivery.

"[The cap] means that regardless of how much work needs to be done, agencies are forced to arbitrarily limit their staff," he said. "As a result we've seen much of the public service be privatised."

"In Tasmania it has resulted in government departments being forced to use labour hire companies to get around the cap.

"This results in high staff turnover and higher costs for the taxpayer as the taxpayer subsidises the profit margins of labour hire companies."

Mr Batchelor cited the Launceston Centrelink office as an example of a government office feeling the pinch of the cap.

"Half the staff in that office are employed through labour hire arrangements, with no sick leave or holiday pay," he said. "This makes it very difficult for agencies to build and maintain the corporate knowledge required to navigate complex government legislation and serve the community to the level they have in the past."

A federal government spokesperson said the government was directing taxpayer money to the public services Tasmanians needed.

"Under our government more Tasmanians are getting into work," the spokesperson said.

"We're focused on ensuring that Tasmanians get the services they need, whether that's in person or increasingly online as technology has rapidly developed.

"We won't try to fudge Tasmania's employment figures by employing more and more taxpayer-funded public servants."

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics released last week showed that Tasmania gained about 1000 jobs in trend terms in January 2020 but all of them were part-time jobs.

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