The Three Ps of Innovation: Personal, People, and Politics

Public sector employment in the European Union has represented a stable and significant share of the overall workforce between 2000 and 2016. Eurostat data indicates that government employment accounted for approximately 15 to 17 percent of total employment during this period. This includes civil servants and other government employees at national, regional, and local levels, as well as
military personnel. For example, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland have some of the highest proportions of government employment (around 25-29%), while countries like Germany and Luxembourg have lower shares (around 10-12%) (Eurostat, 2018). However, the exact composition of the public sector varies by Member State, with sectors such as education and health included in government employment in some countries but not others.