State institutions and offices are part of the public sector.
The public sector is the group made up of corporations, institutions and State offices. Because the State is a form of organization of society, it is understood that what is state is public , in the sense that it does not belong to a person or a company but is the property of all the inhabitants .
It should be noted that a sector is a part of a whole. Depending on the context, it may be a group of people, a set of activities or an area of a territory. Public , for its part, is a term that can be used as an adjective to refer to that which belongs to the entire community.
Public sector functioning
Through public sector organizations, the State executes its policies , fulfills its functions and guarantees compliance with the law . People who work in the public sector are chosen by the population through elections or appointed by officials who represent the community.
This particular characteristic usually gives rise to an endless series of complaints from the people, based on the fact that officials should more accurately represent their needs , given that they have been chosen by themselves, and that they receive their salaries thanks to the compliance with their obligations as citizens, among which are the payment of taxes and transparency when running a business. As expected, if people perceive that their officials are not working responsibly, they become angry and demand respect.
What makes up the public sector does not belong to a company, but to the entire community.
The characteristics of the State
With respect to the role of the public sector, it is important to make clear that it is a variable factor , as well as its volume, since both are adapted to the current needs of each time, according to the issues that should be considered of interest. public. These points that concern the public must be defined with some advance notice.
Although the characteristics of the State depend on each country, it is common for the public sector to represent a large percentage of the national economy : it makes million-dollar investments, employs thousands of people, etc. In addition, it also tends to influence socioeconomic activity at a global level.
A situation that serves to demonstrate this relationship between the public sector and the economic situation may be the limitation of the salary increase of public officials with the objective of stopping the advance of inflation . Since the three branches of government (judicial, legislative and executive) are an essential part of the public sector, it goes without saying that it must serve and protect all the inhabitants of its country.
It is important to highlight that public companies that provide various services essential to society are also part of the public sector. This is the case of electricity, gas, water and telephone companies that belong to the State.
Public sector institutions
Broadly speaking, we can distinguish between public sector institutions that are found at the so-called national level , which are directed centrally and act throughout the territory of a country, and those that are at the territorial level (also called regional ), which are located in a town, city, municipality , department or province .
In the first group (the national level) is the Executive Branch, headed by the president, prime minister or head of state, and its role affects the entire nation since it must carry out administrative policies and ensure that all agencies fulfill their obligations . At the territorial level, on the other hand, there are the mayors and governors, who are in charge of exercising the power of the area that has been assigned to them within the country.
Those entities that are not included in the public sector belong to the private sector . There is also talk of mixed companies when a company has the State and private individuals or firms as owners.