Government and Its Employees

This study comprises five case studies from the ILO 1989 World Labour Report, which examines the employment conditions of public service employees. These case studies were subcontracted to scholars in developing countries - Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Venezuela. In order to compare the case study results with information from other developing countries, Derek Robinson from Magdalen College, Oxford wrote an overview on government employment and pay. The main message of the studies is that governments had to reduce expenditure on the wage bill, because they had to face up to rapidly increasing debt payments. Most governments chose to maintain public service employment as much as possible, while they reduced employment in (or privatized) public enterprises.