Public Sector Productivity Review:

It depends on the view of policy makers; whether it is assessed in terms of how well services achieve the intended goals and how satisfied service users are with the outcomes; or whether the focus is rather on the aspects of quantity, efficiency and resource use in the delivery of services. [...] Defining and measuring productivity in the public sector The core definition of productivity is the amount of output produced relative to the inputs used. [...] 8 A second problem is that public sector organisations primarily serve the public interest, a broad and multidimensional goal, while the private sector primarily seeks the narrower and relatively easily measurable goal of profit (lthough the increasing importance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) has led to a somewhat greater alignment in the pursuit of broader goals by the private se. [...] Part 2 Productivity in practice: options to boost public sector productivity Nowadays governments around the world acknowledge the importance of improving productivity in the public sector to mitigate the decline in productivity growth across the whole economy. [...] This is primarily due to the nature of the services provided, specific characteristics of the public sector workforce, and the responsibility of public organisations to be transparent about their expenditure of public funds (Kalleberg et al., 2006).