Data source: The World Bank
The Worldwide Bureaucracy Indicators (WWBI) database is a unique cross-national dataset on public sector employment and wages that aims to fill an information gap, thereby helping researchers, development practitioners, and policymakers gain a better understanding of the personnel dimensions of state capability, the footprint of the public sector within the overall labor market, and the fiscal implications of the public sector wage bill. The dataset is derived from administrative data and household surveys, thereby complementing existing, expert perception-based approaches.
The WWBI includes 302 indicators that are estimated from microdata drawn from the labor force and household welfare surveys and augmented with administrative data for 202 economies in five categories: the demographics of the private and public sector workforces; public sector wage premiums; relative wages and pay compression ratios, gender pay gaps; and the public sector wage bill.
The micro and administrative data utilized in the construction of the WWBI are drawn from data catalogs housing surveys conducted by national statistical organizations (NSO) or multilateral organization data teams. Together, these provide an important, albeit narrow, picture of the skills and incentives of bureaucrats. Indicators on public employment track key demographic characteristics including the size of the public sector workforce (in absolute and relative numbers), their age, and distributions across genders, industries, income quintiles, and academic qualifications. Variables on compensation capture both the competitiveness of public sector wages (compared to the private sector) as well as wage differentials across industry or occupation of employment, genders, education, and income quintiles within the public and private sectors as well as pay compression ratios in public and private sectors. The indicators on the size of the wage bill offer a glimpse into the structure and affordability of the public sector within the larger economy.
Please keep in mind that, for the purposes of the QoG compilations, we have taken a subset of the indicators. Please find all of the indicators of this dataset in its original website.
When using this dataset, please cite as:
(The World Bank,
2022)
Browse variables and select them for download.
wwbi_fmwrprmean
Female to male wage ratio in the private sector (using mean)
wwbi_fmwrprmedian
Female to male wage ratio in the private sector (using median)
wwbi_fmwrpumean
Female to male wage ratio in the public sector (using mean)
wwbi_fmwrpumedian
Female to male wage ratio in the public sector (using median)
wwbi_fsprpemp
Females as a share of private paid employees
wwbi_fspuemp
Females, as a share of public paid employees
wwbi_meanageprpe
Mean age of private paid employees
wwbi_meanagepupe
Mean age of public paid employees
wwbi_medianageprpe
Median age of private paid employees
wwbi_medianagepupe
Median age of public paid employees
wwbi_paycomppr
Pay compression ratio in private sector (ratio of 90th/10th percentile earners)
wwbi_paycomppu
Pay compression ratio in public sector (ratio of 90th/10th percentile earners).
wwbi_prpemphi
Share of private paid employees with health insurance
wwbi_prpempss
Share of private paid employees with social security
wwbi_prpempum
Share of private paid employees with union membership
wwbi_psefemp
Public sector employment as a share of formal employment
wwbi_psemptot
Public sector employment as a share of total employment
wwbi_psemptotf
Public sector employment as a share of total employment by gender (Female)
wwbi_psemptotm
Public sector employment as a share of total employment by gender (Male)
wwbi_psemptotr
Public sector employment as a share of total employment by location (Rural)
wwbi_psemptotu
Public sector employment as a share of total employment by location (Urban)
wwbi_psepemp
Public sector employment as a share of paid employment
wwbi_psepempf
Public sector employment as a share of paid employment by gender (Female)
wwbi_psepempm
Public sector employment as a share of paid employment by gender (Male)
wwbi_psepempr
Public sector employment as a share of paid employment by location (Rural)
wwbi_psepempu
Public sector employment as a share of paid employment by location (Urban)
wwbi_pupemphi
Share of public paid employees with health insurance
wwbi_pupempss
Share of public paid employees with social security
wwbi_pupempum
Share of public paid employees with union membership
wwbi_rrespripemp
Rural residents as a share of private paid employees
wwbi_rrespubpemp
Rural resident as a share of public paid employees
wwbi_sprpempn
Individuals with no education as a share of private paid employees
wwbi_sprpempp
Individuals with primary education as a share of private paid employees
wwbi_sprpemps
Individuals with secondary education as a share of private paid employees
wwbi_sprpempt
Individuals with tertiary education as a share of private paid employees
wwbi_spupempn
Individuals with no education as a share of public paid employees
wwbi_spupempp
Individuals with primary education as a share of public paid employees
wwbi_spupemps
Individuals with secondary education as a share of public paid employees
wwbi_spupempt
Individuals with tertiary education as a share of public paid employees
wwbi_tertiarypubsec
Proportion of total employees with tertiary education working in public sector