Representing the most extensive research on public employment, these two volumes explore the radical changes that have taken place in the configuration of national public services due to a general expansion of public employment that was followed by stagnation and decreases. Part-time employment and the involvement of women also increased as a component of the public sector and were linked to the most important growth areas such as the educational, health care and personal social services sectors. The two volumes that make up this study shed important insight on these changes.Volume 1 offers a unique internationally comparative multi-dimensional analysis of ten public service systems belonging to different families of major advanced western countries. It contains the most comprehensive and comparable quantitative analyses available anywhere of ten public service systems; Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the US, Germany, Spain, France, Denmark and Sweden.

Volume 2 is a comprehensive analysis of the ten public service systems, with in-depth comparisons of the systems along eight dimensions including central-regional-local government employment proportions and the change of the services since the 1950s with respect to social composition (gender, minorities, elites, career groups).

Scholars and professionals in the fields of public administration, politics and economics will find this two-volume compendium informative and practical.