ABSTRACT
This book describes and analyses trends in the public-sector wages, salaries and allowances of five countries over the past two decades. It thus provides five separate accounts of one important aspect of public policy. However, these stories are set against a background of broader economic events which give a particular context to the details of public-sector pay and which extend their significance. The main questions asked are: how has public-sector pay reacted to the adjustment experiences of countries in different economic circumstances and, more broadly, what lessons does this comparative experience suggest for the relationship between labour market policies and the conduct of successful adjustment? We must begin by clarifying what is meant by adjustment in these circumstances, and why public-sector pay is important to it.
