public sector

(noun)

Industries or services provided or funded by the government

Related Terms

Examples of public sector in the following topics:

  • Trends in Labor-Management Relations

    • Labor trends include a declining union movement in the US, public sector unions, women leaders, and international unions.
    • Wisconsin, New York, and other states saw the emergence of public-sector unions, including:
    • After 1960, public sector unions grew rapidly and secured good wages and high pensions.
    • Daniel Disalvo notes, "In today's public sector, good pay, generous benefits, and job security make possible a stable middle-class existence for nearly everyone from janitors to jailors. "
    • In 2011, as states faced a growing fiscal crisis and the Republicans made major gains in the 2010 elections, public sector unions came under attack in Wisconsin, Indiana, New Jersey, and Ohio from conservative Republican legislatures.

  • The State of Competition

    • Current competition can be examined through market dominance, mergers and acquisitions, public sector regulation, and intellectual property.
    • Public sector industries, or industries which are by their nature providing a public service, are involved in competition in many ways similar to private companies.
    • Many industries, such as railways, electricity, gas, water, and media have their own independent competitive concerns and sector regulators.
    • These government agencies are charged with ensuring that private providers carry out certain public service duties in line with social welfare goals.
    • Describe how market dominance, mergers and acquisitions, public sector regulation, and intellectual property contribute to the current state of competition

  • Government and Nonprofit Accounting

    • Governmental accounting is an umbrella term which refers to the various accounting systems used by various public sector entities.
    • There is an important difference between private sector accounting and governmental accounting.
    • In the government environment, public sector entities have differing goals, as opposed to the private sector entities' one main goal of gaining profit.
    • Government accounting refers to the field of accounting that specifically finds application in the public sector or government.
    • In other words, the representatives of the public, and officials appointed by them, must be accountable to the public for powers and tasks delegated.

  • Modern Labor Organizations

    • Public sector unions are regulated partly by federal and partly by state laws.
    • Most of the recent gains in union membership have been in the service sector, while the number of unionized employees in the manufacturing sector has declined.
    • Historically, the rapid growth of public employee unions since the 1960s has served to mask an even more dramatic decline in private-sector union membership.
    • In general the public sector unions have shown robust growth rates because wages and working conditions are set through negotiations with elected local and state officials.
    • One explanation for loss of public support is simply the lack of union power.

  • Mixed Economies

    • A Mixed Economy exhibits characteristics of both market and planned economies, with private and state sectors providing direction.
    • Social market economy is the economic policy of modern Germany that steers a middle path between the goals of socialism and capitalism within the framework of a private market economy and aims at maintaining a balance between a high rate of economic growth, low inflation, low levels of unemployment, good working conditions, public welfare and public services by using state intervention.
    • A mixed economy is an economic system in which both the state and private sector direct the economy, reflecting characteristics of both market economies and planned economies.
    • Subsequently, some mixed economies have expanded in scope to include a role for indicative economic planning and/or large public enterprise sectors.
    • Keynesian economics advocates a mixed economy — predominantly private sector, but with a significant role of government and public sector.

  • Promotions

    • In many companies and public service organizations, more senior positions have a different title: an analyst who is promoted becomes a principal analyst, an economist becomes a senior economist, and an associate professor becomes a full professor.
    • The amount of salary increase associated with a promotion varies between industries and sectors, and depends on what parts of the hierarchical ladder an employee is moving.
    • The degree to which job activities change varies between industries and sectors.
    • In some parts of the private sector, the senior management has a very high level of discretion to award promotions.
    • In the public sector and in academia, there are usually many more checks and balances in place to prevent favoritism or bias.

  • Small Businesses and U.S. Jobs

    • Half of the U.S. private sector is populated by small businesses and the other half by large businesses.
    • The private sector consists of a wide variance in business size, grouped into small, medium, and large organizations.
    • Using this definition, just over one-half of the private sector is populated by small businesses and the other half by large businesses.

  • The Prevalence of Small Businesses

    • In the United States, roughly 20% of SMBs are concentrated in the goods-producing sector.
    • The 80% of SMBs that reside in the service-providing sector is largely a reflection of the overall U.S. economy (services over goods), as well as the greater feasibility of service industries for small-scale entry.
    • The high concentration of SMBs in the service-providing sector also reflects a few realities of business.
    • Maintaining quality across hundreds of locations in the service-providing sector is also, as you might imagine, not an easy task.
    • Small businesses often begin in the services sector due to a number of factors.

  • Service Economy Growth

    • The sector ranges from common "intangible" goods, such as health and education, to newer goods, such as modern communications and IT.
    • The growth of the service sector is, in part, a response to the change of traditional manufacturing industries into services.
    • However, still a number of typically shared characteristics distinguish services from goods-producing sectors.
    • Identify the characteristics of the service sector that have led to its growing prevalence

  • Productivity Gains in Manufacturing

    • Yet, the manufacturing sector of the U.S. economy had been experiencing substantial job losses for several years.
    • While the United States service sector has grown, so has the manufacturing sector.
    • De Rugy's data shows an increase in manufacturing output since 1975 and a decrease in employment in the manufacturing sector.
    • With 257,000 jobs added by private businesses, this marks the 23rd consecutive month of private sector job growth.
    • Break down the advantages and disadvantages of productivity gains in the manufacturing sector