Source: Agência Estado, 31/03/2009

São Paulo - Sociologist José Pastore, a professor at the University of São Paulo (USP) who specializes in labor relations, criticized the research released today by the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea), in which the agency assesses that there is no “swelling” of Brazilian state and states that there is room for hiring more public servants in the country. “I always understood that Ipea was a technical body. He should restrict himself to technical analysis, as he always did, ”he said.

For the sociologist, the quantitative comparison made by Ipea on the participation of civil servants among the total contingent of employed persons is less important than an assessment of the quality and efficiency of the services provided. “Good service depends much more on quality, efficiency, productivity than quantity. Sweden has three times as many civil servants as Brazil, relatively. Could it be that by tripling the number of civil servants in the country, Brazilians will have the same quality of health care that the Swedes have? ”He asked.

According to the study released today by Ipea, the percentage of employees among the total contingent of employed persons was 10,7% in 2005, a result that was considered low by the institute when compared to developed countries. According to the survey, this ratio reaches 39,2% in Denmark, 30,9% in Sweden, 24,9% in France and 14,8% in the United States. The entity measured the share of jobs in the public sector with data from direct, indirect administration and state-owned companies.

According to Pastore, there is no point in increasing the number of public jobs if the productivity of the service does not follow this evolution. "There is little point in comparing numbers, it is necessary to compare quality of care," he said. Pastore acknowledged that there are quality exceptions, such as the Central Bank (BC) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and that there are “many very dedicated, very competent employees”. "But the option is to look at the general situation," he said, criticizing the service provided in the areas of health, public security and justice. “What we have here is a hellish bureaucracy.”

The sociologist made it clear that his intention is not to disqualify the document. “It is a study that took on the quantitative dimension. But I didn't see the word efficiency once ”, he criticized. “You can do research wanting to show quantity, but what matters is efficiency. What good is it to know that Paraguay has more (servers) than Brazil? I want to know if the quality of service is better than the Brazilian one or vice versa. ” (Carolina Ruhman)