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_--__ ___ -~ -~_ W es I POLicY RESEARCH WORKING PAPER 1806 Public Disclosure Authorized An International Statistical Detailed statisticalard econometric eviden,-e on Surveyof (Government governmentemploynew Employment and Wages and pay, both global and Public Disclosure Authorized Employmnentand wagesreinl regiornal. Salvatore Schiavo-Ca'ampo Gitdio de 7ommaso Amitabba Muckherjee Public Disclosure Authorized Background paper for World Developmentt eport 1997 The World Bank Office of the Chief Economist anc Senior Vic., President, Development Econonmics Public Disclosure Authorized and Europe and Central Asia, and Middle Last anJ North Africa Technical Departmenti PutblicSector Managcrient antdInfor-nmation i echnology Team H August I 9q7 POLIcY RESFARCH WORKING PAPER 1806 Summary findings This paper complements a separate study in this Series Schiavo-Campo, de Tommaso, and Mukherjee briefly ("Government Employment and Pay: A Global and summarize the key findings of the earlier paper for the Regional Perspective," Policy Research Working Paper reader's convenience and to permit this paper to stand 1771, May 1997) by providing the detailed statistical and alone. However, the purpose of the paper is to provide econometric evidence on which that separate study is the country-by-country statistics. The reader is referred based. to the companion paper for a description and analysis of the main findings. This paper - a joint product of the Office of the Chief Economist and Senior Vice President, Development Economics, and Europe and Central Asia, and Middle East and North Africa Technical Department, Public Sector Management and Information Technology Team- was produced as a background paper for AVorld Deuelopme7nt Report 1997 on the role of the state in a changing world. Copies of this paper are available free from the World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433. PleasecontactMarinette Gueverra, room H12-001,telephone 202-473-2959, fax202-477-0669, Internet address [email protected]. August 1997. (83 pages) 'rhe Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. 7'he findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the view of the WEorldBank, its Executive Directors, or the countries they represent. Produced by the Policy Rusearch Dissemination Center AN INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL SURVEY OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES by SalvatoreSchiavo-Campo Giulio de Tommaso Amitabha Mukherjee Public Sector Management and Information Technology Team Technical Department for Europe, Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa World Bank i AN INTERNATIONALSTATISTICAL SURVEY OF GOVERNMENTEMPLOYMENT AND WAGES CONTENTS Preface. 1. Scope of the survey and methodological problems ............................................ l 2. The key findings on goverrnent employment ...................................................... 3 3. The key findings on governm ent wages ...................................................... 5 4. Changes over the last decade ..................................................... 9 5. Determinants of government employment ...................................................... 6. A concluding word ..................................................... 13 Statistical Appendix: Government Employment and Wages, 1990's, by country and region ........................................14 Text tables: 1. Government Employment, early 1990's..................................................... 5 2. Government Wages, early 1990's........................ ;7 3. Government Employment and Wages, early 1980'sand early 1990's ..............................................9 Text Figures: 1. Defining Government Employment ................................................... 2 2. Countries Covered in the Survey .................................................. 2b 3. Government Employment, early 1990's................................................... 5 4. Government Wages, early 1990's................................................... 8 5. Government Employment and Wages, early 1980'sand early 1990's. ...........................................10 STATISTICAL APPENDIX TABLES Page A-1: Population, Labor Force and Employment, in millions,all countries,recent years I: Africa ................................. 16 II: Asia ................................. 17 III: Eastern Europe and Former USSR................................. 18 IV: Latin America and Caribbean ................................. 19 V: Middle East and North Africa ................................. 20 VI: OECD Countries ................................. 20 A-2: Public Sector Employment, all countries,recent years I: Africa................................. 21 I.1 in thousands I.2 as percentage of population 1.3 as percentage of labor force I.4 as percentage of total employment II: Asia ................................. 25 II.1 in thousands II.2 as percentage of population II.3 as percentage of labor force II.4 as percentage of total employment III: Eastem Europe and Former USSR................................. 29 III.1 in thousands III.2 as percentage of population III.3 as percentage of labor force 111.4as percentage of total employment IV: Latin America and Caribbean ................................. 33 IV.1 in thousands IV.2 as percentage of population IV.3 as percentage of labor force IV.4 as percentage of total employment V: Middle East and North Africa................................. 37 V.1 in thousands V.2 as percentage of population V.3 as percentage of labor force V.4 as percentage of total employment VI: OECD Countries ............................ 39 VI.1 in thousands VI.2 as percentage of population VI.3 as percentage of labor force VI.4 as percentage of total employment A-3: Public Sector Wages, Manufacturing Wages and Per CapitaGDP, all countries, recentyears I: Africa ........................... 41 II: Asia ........................... 41 III: Eastern Europe and Former USSR........................... 42 IV: Latin America and Caribbean ........................... 42 V: Middle East and North Africa........................... 43 VI: OECD Countries ........................... 43 Methodological and Technical Notes ...................................... 45 Sources ..................................... 49 PREFACE This paper complements a separate study in this Series ("Government Employment and Pay: A Global and Regional Perspective") by providing the detailed statistical and econometric evidence on which that separate study is based. A brief summary of key findings is included here for the reader's convenience and in order to permit this paper to stand alone. The reader interested in the broader discussion or in policy issues is referred to the separate study--which also provides the full bibliographical references and proper acknowledgments of all those who helped or commented. 1 1. SCOPE OF THE SURVEY AND METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS a. Methodological Problems As Heller and Tait (1983,p. 35) noted: "It is surprising and depressing how little information is readily available on public sector employment and pay". Although this study attempts to remedy, in part, this state of affairs, the paucity of readily available data is explained by persisting methodological difficulties. There is no more hazardous cross-country comparison than in the area of "civil service" employment and wages. The following methodological problems have been pointed out years ago and are still present. For a detailed listing and discussion, the reader is referred to Heller and Tait (1983). The Notes to the Statistical Appendix explain in detail the definitions and sources used in this survey. In the first place, statistics of any reliability simply don't exist in many countries. When reasonable data are available, employment comparisons are complicated by the fact that some countries include teachers and/or health workers in the civil service, others don't; some countries include contractual and seasonal (sometimes even daily) workers in government employment, others don't; local government employment may or may not include employees paid out of the central government budget; accordingly, large numbers of persons may be paid out of the central budget but are not listed among central personnel; paramilitary personnel (gendarmes,carabinieri, etc.) may be included in civilian personnel because of their public order functions, or in the armed forces because of their military status; employees of legislative bodies are sometimes included in government personnel, etc. And, because the basic social services - education and health-raise different policy and practical issues than government administration, it is useful to try and separate out employment of teaching and health personnel. Figure 1 illustrates the overlapping nature of the main components of government employment, and the resulting gray definitional areas. The methodological difficulties arise because the intersection of the various components differs in different countries, and the definition of certain personnel in one or another category itself has an inevitable arbitrary and/or country-specific element. In this survey, we have taken care of using clear and uniform definitional