What is the evidence of the impact of increasing salaries on improving the performance of public servants? Is it time to give pay a chance?
In this systematic review, public servants include teachers, nurses and mid-level occupations in low and middleincome countries
Abstract
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have stimulated a plethora of research on civil servant remuneration and poverty reduction through improved civil service performance and Decent Work (MDG1b). Since the year 2000 an emphasis on market forces has directed attention to output-based pay (or pay-for-performance) instead of paying decent/liveable fixed salaries that trust public servants to deliver performance-for-pay i.e. performance that is contingent on pay rather than vice-versa.
This systematic review covers the literature from 2000-2010 and focuses on frontline occupations in health (doctors, nurses, mid-level occupations) and in education (teachers), in low- and middle-income countries.
There is a protocol for this systematic review
Citation
Carr, S. C.; Leggatt-Cook, C.; Clarke, M.; MacLachlan, M.; Papola, T. S.; Pais, J.; Thomas, S.; McAuliffe, E.; Normand, C. What is the evidence of the impact of increasing salaries on improving the performance of public servants, including teachers, nurses and mid-level occupations, in low- and middle-income countries: Is it time to give pay a chance? EPPICentre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, London, UK (2011) 102 pp. ISBN 978-1-907345-24-1
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