Restructuring in the public sector

Transcription

1 Restructuring in the public sector John Hurley, Research Manager CESI conference, Dublin 25 June /06/2015 1

2 Presentation Eurofound What is the public sector? How has public sector employment changed after the crisis? With what quality of work changes is restructuring associated? Brief conclusions

3 Eurofound A tripartite EU agency Established in 1975 Comparative socio-economic research Budget of ca. 21m 115 people in Dublin and Brussels combined

4 Areas of expertise Working conditions Living conditions Industrial relations and collective bargaining Structural change and restructuring

5 European Restructuring Monitor

6 What is public sector / service employment? Services of general interest Functional definition: nature of the services provided. Covers both market and non-market services which the public authorities class as being of general interest and subject to specific public service obligations. CEEP s approach in mapping public services in Europe project. 29.5% of EU27 employment in Public ownership of the entity producing / providing service Hard to operationalise Using NACE classification Easy to operationalise but an imprecise proxy of public sector employment Example: under the Irish public sector reform programme, public service headcount reduced from 320,000 to 290,000 between Over a similar period (2008Q2-2013Q2), health/education/public administration/social security headcount increased from 467,000 to 490,000.

7 Public sector employment: the main branches Survey question: Are you working in the public / private etc sector? % of workers in public administration, education and health (NACE) Source: 5EWCS 2010

8 Public sector employment: by country grouping

9 Public sector employment: by country

10 Employment level , EU28 for main public service sectors Source: EU-LFS. Note: data break in 2007/8 means categories are not exactly matching in two periods. Rescaled to 2007/8=100

11 Public services: employment profile Gender - % of women Age - % of 50+ Turnover - % with tenure < 3mths 2008Q2 2013Q2 chg 2008Q2 2013Q2 chg 2008Q2 2013Q2 chg All sectors Pub lic administration and defence etc Education Human health and social work activities % temporary contracts % part time Average actual weekly hours 2008Q2 2013Q2 chg 2008Q2 2013Q2 chg 2008Q2 2013Q2 chg All sectors Pub lic administration and defence etc Education Human health and social work activities Source: EU-LFS

12 Public sector retrenchment: unequally distributed In response to the fiscal crisis, to what extent has your organisation applied the following cutback measures? %s are those answering 6 or 7 on a 1-7 likert scale where 1 is not at all and 7 is to a great extent Source: COCOPs

13 Performance improvement independent of reform intensity Source: COCOPs

14 Public sector workers more likely to report restructuring During the last three years have the following changes occurred at your current work place which affected the immediate working environment? Substantial restructuring or reorganisation was carried out (% yes) Source: 5EWCS 2010

15 Restructuring and associated quality of work dimensions Theme Work organisation Health risks / outcomes Work well-being Public sector worker Private sector worker Dependent variable Restructuring Restructuring Yes (%) No (%) OR Sig Yes (%) No (%) OR Sig Work intensity *** *** Work autonomy NS * Teamwork * *** Access to training *** *** Computer use *** *** Work subject to formal assessment *** *** Psychosocial risk exposure *** *** Physical risk exposure *** ** Bullying / harassment *** ** Any psychological health problems *** *** Any physical health problems *** ** Stress *** *** Job satisfaction *** *** Good career advancement prospects NS ** Job security *** *** Source: 5EWCS 2010

16 Restructuring and associated quality of work dimensions (2) Restructuring increases reported work intensity, especially amongst public sector workers. Exposure to psychosocial risks and negative associated health outcomes (fatigue, headache, sleeping problems..) are much more prevalent among public sector workers and in particular in restructured public sector workplaces. Access to paid-for training is more likely in public sector. One of the bigger positive effects of restructuring is that employees in restructured workplaces are much more likely to report having had access to paid-for training - in both public and private. Restructuring is associated with a much higher level of formal assessment of work, especially in the private sector. In fact, processes of change brought about by restructuring appear to lead to convergence on public sector norms of work performance monitoring.

17 Brief conclusions There are different public sectors. Core public sector is contracting. Employment is growing in health/education/social services but the private share of employment is growing here too. Public sector workforce is ageing faster since the crisis Public sector is increasingly feminised While comparatively positive in many quality of work dimensions working-time flexibility, security public sector losing some of its former attractiveness as an employer Restructuring as common in public as private sector. The conundrum: E-government, MOOCs, telemedicine but public service provision will remain labour-intensive, there will be greater demand especially for health services, the services themselves will become relatively more expensive. Low-growth in developed economies, high levels of public debt post-crisis, pressure on public spending.

18 Thank you for your attention!

19 Public sector restructuring Contextual data from three sources EU-Labour Force survey No public sector / private sector question. NACE sector classification Data used to estimate shifting employment levels in predominantly publicly funded sectors as well as services of general interest European Working Conditions survey (most recent wave, 2010) Includes public sector / private sector and restructuring questions Data used to compare public and private sector workers on incidence of restructuring as well as different quality of work dimensions COCOPs survey of public sector executives (online; n=c. 8000, 16 European countries) Data used to show how public sector reform has been implemented across different countries. Views and experiences of senior executives.

20 Public services: top ten employing jobs Occupation (isco 2d) Sector (nace 2d) Quintile Employment 2013q2 % chg % chg Wage Educ (,000s) Teaching professionals Education Health professionals Human Health Activities Health associate professionals Human Health Activities Business and administration associate profs Public Administration and Defence etc Personal care workers Residential Care Activities Personal care workers Social Work Activities Without Accomm Protective services workers Public Administration and Defence etc Personal care workers Human Health Activities Personal care workers Education Business and administration profs Public Administration and Defence etc

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22 Why is PSR different? (Chp. 3 and 4) Public sector restructuring (PSR) Different drivers High employment security High union density The dual role of state The wide range of interested parties (and its political dimension) How restructuring was carried out? Which tools in which countries? Any representative data? OECD(2011) Mapping of restructuring instruments used in public sector Structural & organisational reform Budgetary instruments HRM instruments practises