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What share of public services employment is contributed by the private sector?

Author

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  • S. Moura, Afonso

Abstract

This box examines the composition of “public services” employment in the euro area. This sector has contributed disproportionately to aggregate employment growth in recent years. Drawing on the ECB Consumer Expectations Survey and Eurostat’s EU Labour Force Survey, we show that only around half of the 6.9 million public services jobs created since 2008 can be attributed to the public sector. Within public services, health and social work is the dominant driver, yet this is also the least “publicly provided” sub-sector. Within health and social work, growth is concentrated in activities related to care of the elderly and disabled, which is closely linked to ageing demographics and in large part provided from outside the public sector. JEL Classification: H10, H40, H51

Suggested Citation

  • S. Moura, Afonso, 2026. "What share of public services employment is contributed by the private sector?," Economic Bulletin Boxes, European Central Bank, vol. 7.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbbox:2026:0007:3
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • H10 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - General
    • H40 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - General
    • H51 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Health

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