processes, which offer an insight into the drivers and constraints involved. The selection of the public education sector is based on its importance in government hiring. The Ministry and Commissions of Education employ the greatest number of civil servants, according to the data, with more than half of the total; it also manages the largest budget within the wage bill. This case study builds on the quantitative analysis described above, probing the motivation to create jobs, as well as the process of filling those jobs. To complete this case study, our research team conducted over 30 interviews with those in charge of the hiring process, primarily the Secretary Generals and Bureau Chiefs of Ministries and Commissions at both the Union and Island levels, as well as the officials involved in the Civil Service Ministries and Ministry of Finance. A semistructured questionnaire was designed and utilized in these interviews, probing the formal and informal process of hiring, the criteria involved in decisions, the interests at play, the effects of hiring on other forms of spending, and others. This perspective from bureaucrats inside the government was complemented with interviews with over 75 teachers in communities from the three islands, as part of the community case studies.

The conclusions developed from the three empirical analyses were complemented with more than 50 semi-structured interviews with a number of key informants, such as civil society, academics, trade unionists, development partners, media and government officials at both the national and island levels. These interviews explored a number of areas, such as the interest groups who would support or oppose reforming the system, and the sensitivities that derive from the separatist movements, among others.

# **Section 4: The overall civil service**

## **Recruitment into the civil service**

The following analysis provides different measures of recruitment into the civil service. The questionnaire that supports this analysis does not measure the actual recruitment year by year, but rather the recruitment of the staff at the time of the civil service census, during the summer and fall of 2011.

**_Chart 5.1  Period of Recruitment for the Present Civil Service_**

<!-- Start of picture text --> 50%<br>38.74% 39.76%<br>40%<br>30%<br>21.50%<br>20%<br>10%<br>0%<br>Up to 2000 2001‐2005 2006‐2011<br><!-- End of picture text --> Source: Author database, 2011.

Chart 5.1 displays the breakdown of recruitment of the present civil service up to the year 2000, from 2001 to 2005, then from 2006 to 2011. Only 38.74% of the present civil service was recruited in 2000 or before, suggesting that a minority of the civil service is of a relatively senior status, with over 10 years of experience. Interestingly, the earliest recruitment year for a serving civil servant in this data is 1969, which suggests that this person has worked for over 40 years. From 2001 to 2005, 21.50% of the civil service was recruited. The largest period of recruitment, with 39.76% of all recruitment taking place, is 2006 to 2011. While it is possible that an enormous number of civil servants depart from year to year, the data suggest that recent years 9