Abstract: Kazakhstan has made significant progress in the development of a stable and professional civil service system, setting an appropriate legislative framework, and sound institutional mechanisms for the management of the system. However, conservative wage policies in the wake of the Russian crisis of 1998, and the rapid emergence of the oil and gas industries in recent years, have eroded the competitiveness of the civil service as an employer. There are two main groups of issues that need to be addressed, so that measures set by the Government may be viable: to have the desired effect in terms of civil service competitiveness, and, to ensure that the investment in civil service wages will generate better quality public services, addressing concerns related to fiscal impact, and designing appropriate accompanying reform measures in the public sector wage system, in particular in the civil service. This Note therefore both provides policy options to mitigate the fiscal impact of the planned wage increases, and presents a set of accompanying reforms in the wage system that would be required to ensure that wage increases will also lead to qualitative improvements in the performance of the civil (and public) service. Recommendations include: Adoption in 2005 of a specific legal instrument on salaries; A review of vacant posts and the actual use of wage budgets, with the aim to, identify redundant posts; The introduction of a new job classification system based on job evaluation; Design measures to address the impact of regional disparities on wages; The introduction of a mandatory performance appraisal system for all civil servants; Development of a system to measure organizational performance in the civil service; and, Reducing the scope of the civil service. |
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accountability, accounting, administrative costs, basic, budget surplus, central government, civil service, corruption, crowding out, economic development, economic growth, employment, face value, fiscal, Fiscal sustainability, government level, Government officials, housing, human capital, income, inflation, inflation rates, institution building, institutional mechanisms, inventory, Legal framework, legislative drafting, legislative framework, local bodies, local levels, parliament, Performance Appraisal, preferential treatment, privatization, public enterprises, Public Expenditure, public funds, public investment, public investments, public resources, Public Sector, public service, public service employment, Public Services, reorganization, representatives, savings, State budget, State budget expenditures, system Design, transparency, transparent use, unequal access, wages
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