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CHAPTER EIGHT: The Civil Service

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Chapter Summary

Chapter 8 emphasizes the people who work in government, that is, the civil service system. The rate of total government employment in the United States has remained steady for three decades. In civil service systems, each position is identified in terms of the special knowledge the job requires, its level of difficulty, and the responsibilities that come with it. Veterans, minorities, women, and the disabled receive special privileges when competing for a job in government. Civil service employees tend to sustain long careers in government. However, federal pay has lagged behind what employees would earn in similar private-sector jobs.

There has been a major rise in the unionization of public employees and an increased use of collective bargaining to determine conditions of employment. Policymakers and the civil service system set the basic work conditions for government employees. Government differs from private business in the scope of issues on which employees and their unions want to, or are able to, bargain. Additionally, the civil service system must wrestle with employees' right to privacy and limitations on the political activity of government workers.