Development Impact Group

Overview

The Bureaucracy Lab is an initiative that aims to transform the evidence base for public administration reform. By creating new datasets, diagnostic instruments, toolkits, and analytical reports, and undertaking impact evaluations on a variety of aspects of public sector employment and management, the Bureaucracy Lab works to enhance global knowledge on public administration. The Lab supports several World Bank operations and policy engagements through primary survey data collection, and the analysis of administrative data, on public sector workers and using these as the basis for impact evaluation.

Main Themes

Global Datasets

The Worldwide Bureaucracy Indicators (WWBI) database: The Lab has created global data on the public service in terms of the WWBI. The WWBI presents over 300 indicators on the characteristics of public and private sector workforces, public sector wage bills, pay compression ratios and gender pay gaps.  

Global Survey of Public Servants: The GSPS presents the largest harmonized set of public servants survey data in the world with 29 countries and responses from over 1,000,000 public servants. By increasing the volume, quality, and coherence of survey data, the GSPS generates insights into the experiences, perceptions, and challenges faced by public officials. 

Global Reports 

Government Analytics Handbook: This handbook presents frontier evidence and practitioner insights on how governments can leverage data to strengthen public administration. From the use of payroll, customs, procurement, and other administrative data, to the methodology of survey administration, its content serves as a baseline for continued work on public administration reforms around the globe.

Innovating Bureaucracy Report: The ability, motivation, and productivity of bureaucrats are key determinants in government effectiveness. Drawing on new datasets compiled by the World Bank, the report delves into the dynamics of the public sector labor market in terms of employment and compensation, bureaucrats' attitudes and behaviors, management effectiveness, utilization of digital technologies, and methods for measuring productivity. 

Public Sector Employment and Compensation Toolkit: This toolkit aims to provide a framework for conducting assessments of public sector employment and compensation to facilitate evidence-based reforms. This is necessary to address growing debt distress, the need for greater expenditure efficiency in many of the World Bank’s client countries, and global challenges which require a strong role for the public sector.

Country Reports  

• Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Public Sector Labor Market and Its Implications

• Estonia - Evaluating the Influence of Local Service Quality Monitoring on Citizens and Public Officials

• Estonia - State of the Public Service: Evidence from a Survey of Public Officials

• Ethiopia - Moving Further on Civil Service Reforms in Ethiopia: Findings and Implications from a Civil Service Survey and Qualitative Analysis

• Lithuania - Governance of the Service Delivery Chain for Youth Mental Health in Lithuania: Key Findings From a Public Sector Employee Survey

• Mali - Human Resources for Health in Mali: Key Findings from a Public Sector Healthcare Employee Survey

• Slovakia - Understanding the Productivity of Slovakia’s Local Governments

Partnerships 

The Bureaucracy Lab is an initiative jointly led by the World Bank’s Development Impact group and Governance Global Practice (GGP) which seeks to promote the use of evidence and technology in public administration reform.