The Public Responsibility of the Public Service

: Expertise and Professionalism

Abstract

This article attempts to clarify recent changes in the labor conditions of public servants from the perspectives of public responsibility and occupational professionalism. The current trend in public sector work can be summarized as non―regularization and marketization. One third of public employees in local governments are temporary or part―time non―regular workers. The number of cases of privatization of public services being conducted through subcontracting and the designated administrator system is growing. As a result, regular civil servants engaged in public sector work believe that their work is losing its “public character” and they feel it difficult to serve residents’ needs. The rising rate of personnel changes and transfers outside occupational specialties at the same time that the number of public employees is being reduced is leading to a situation in which public employees are restricting themselves to their assigned jobs and declining to show interest in other persons.