Public Jobs and Political Agendas: The Public Sector in an Era of Economic Stress

In many ways the public sector and the private sector share concerns about how best to manage their employment functions: recruitment, evaluation, incentives, discipline, retention, compensation. There are also substantial differences between the two sectors. Not surprisingly, a period such as the Great Recession and its aftermath highlights those differences. Some state and local governments that had engaged in precarious fiscal practices were thrust into public attention as their tax revenues receded. But that is not the whole story. The reasons public sector workers and human resource practices are under scrutiny go beyond the impact of a recession putting the spotlight on already-strained budgets.

Public Jobs and Political Agendas spotlights the important public/private differences that account for the special attention visited upon the public sector starting with the Great Recession. The first of these differences was the timing of the response to the recession and its aftermath on revenues. The second difference involves employee compensation and the contrasts between public and private practices in that area. Intertwined with these two factors is the role of politics: social welfare programs have been targeted in recent years, with repercussions for even the most efficient state and local government agencies and their employees.

Contributors: Keith A. Bender, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Ilana Boivie, National Institute on Retirement Security
Ellen Dannin, Pennsylvania State University
Gloria Davis-Cooper, University of West Indies
Sabina Dewan, Center for American Progress
John S. Heywood, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
David Lewin, UCLA Anderson School of Management
Daniel J.B. Mitchell, UCLA Anderson School of Management and the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
Charlene M. L. Roach, The University of The West Indies
William M. Rodgers III, Rutgers University
Mildred E. Warner, Cornell University
Christian Weller, University of Massachusetts Boston and Center for American Progress