Job Creation Through Public Service Employment

Report of findings and recommendations on employment creation through public services in the USA - includes flow chart, references and statistical tables.

This report examines selected public sector direct job creation schemes that were in operation in 1977-1978 in Canada, Denmark, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Based on responses to a questionnaire and discussions with officials in the five countries, the information presented in the report is not intended to evaluate any one program but rather simply to show the results of a series of different job creation programs and later to develop some of the implications of these results. Following descriptions of major programs in each of the countries, the various existing program types and their common characteristics are outlined. Presented next are data pertaining to the following areas: number and types of jobs created; characteristics of participants (employment status, sex, age, educational attainment, economic status); targeting success; transition and postprogram experience; attitudes and satisfaction; wages; net costs; net job creation/displacement; start-up and phase-out; value of output; and financing of programs. In a section on the implications of the findings, the multiple objectives, employment impact, and inflationary impact of direct job creation are explored. Mentioned next are some considerations relating to future policy development, including program design, funding, training, transition, and community dependence on programs. (MN)

This report synthesizes the findings from several areas of work undertaken to assess what impact public sector employment has had on both the level and structure of employment. It also examines the impact of the public sector as employer on the labor market from two viewpoints: the level and share of public sector employment and the structure of this employment. First, an operational definition of the regular public sector is provided that has been used for collecting and classifying the data. Second, the findings of the regular public sector studies are summarized, e.g., levels, shares, growth rates of public sector employment and its distribution by various characteristics, as well as its relation to expenditure level. Third, the findings of a study on temporary direct job creation are used to illustrate the extent to which these programs can focus on special employment groups. Fourth, the implications of these two sets of findings for altering the aggregate level of employment are considered. Finally, some implications for altering the structure of employment are presented. (An appendix provides a table illustrating employment in general government in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development economies, 1960-1979.) (YLB)

USA. Report investigating the possibilities of employment creation in the public sector - includes references and statistical tables.

USA. Research report on limitations to the feasibility of large-scale employment creation programmes in the public sector - identifies 233 job-creation activities in 21 public service areas (incl. Education, environmental protection, energy conservation, etc.), estimates direct and indirect employment opportunity effects, skill requirements, labour intensiveness of each programme, etc., and considers administrative aspects. Bibliography pp. 177 to 179 and statistical tables.

The conference "Job creation through the public sector : one strategy for employment growth" was organized by the Brotherhood of St. Laurence and held in July 1982.