Author ORCID Identifier

0009-0005-9014-8643

Date of Award

Summer 8-2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Public Management and Policy

First Advisor

Gregory B. Lewis

Second Advisor

Jason Coupet

Third Advisor

Cathy Yang Liu

Fourth Advisor

Christine H. Roch

Abstract

The public sector has been facing a looming human capital with persistent challenges in recruitment and retention, highlighting the need to compete for talent against private sector employers. Sector switching is the process of changing from a private to a public job or vice versa, tracking the dynamic processes of attracting private workers and retaining public workers from leaving for private jobs. As few studies have examined sector switching, this dissertation aims to examine the causes and consequences of sector switching through a comprehensive approach, focusing on two general questions: 1. What factors impact the probability of sector switching? 2. What is the effect of sector switching on workers’ pay?

This dissertation begins with the development of a framework for sector switching, discussing the necessary steps of changing jobs and moving to the other sectors in the process of switching sectors. Chapter II examines the impacts of demographic factors on the probability of sector switching, including gender, race, veteran, disability, sexual orientation, and marital and parental status. As sector switching impacts the public sector workforce, this chapter also contributes to representative bureaucracy studies by examining the representation of underrepresented groups in the public sector. The results show that gender and race, as well as veteran, disability, sexual orientation, and marital and parental status affect whether workers switch to the other sector.

Chapter III explores the impacts of sector switching on workers’ pay, appearing to be the first to examine the question in the context of the U.S. As sector switching tracks workers between the public and private sectors, this chapter also contributes to public-private sector wage differential studies by examining wage changes of workers accounting for unobserved skills. The results show that workers typically have wage gains from switching between the public and private sectors, but public workers have lower wage gains from switching to the private sector than from within-sector mobility. This dissertation ends by identifying several research gaps in examining sector switching, calling for future research to focus more on this underdeveloped area.

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