Методология исследования численности аппарата государственной службы России (1984–2014 гг.)

The article deals with the dynamics of the changes in the number of employees at Russia’s governmental bodies in the years 1984 to 2014. Our research hypothesis was that the number of employees is an important indicator of the efficiency of the civil service reform. The ratio between the sizes of various civil servant groups, as well as the share of civil servants in the total population and the labor force, can shed light on the trends in civil service reforms and on its changing place in Russian society. Due to the high inertia of the civil service, systemic transformations there happen slowly. Thus they should be studied over large intervals of time (several decades or longer). The object of our study are the employees of federal ministries and departments which have constituted the core of the civil service both in Soviet and post-Soviet years. We have designed and tested a methodology to assess the number of civil servants in comparable groups in terms of functions performed. This allowed us to overcome the differences in legal understandings of public service throughout the chronological framework of the study. The statistical materials obtained and the data on different groups of civil servants helped us assess their number, classify them into categories, as well as identify general trends in the dynamics of transformation. The 1990s and especially the 2000s saw a marked increase in the bureaucratization of the Russian society. At the same time, we have shown that the number of state and municipal employees in 1984 and 2014 was almost equal. We have traced a positive correlation between the total population, the labor force with an employment and the number of civil servants, as well as between the number of the latter and the dynamics of per capita GDP. This indicates that army of civil servants grows larger or smaller historically in accordance with the mainstream trends in the socio-economic development of the country. The trends identified in this article provide a ground for further research. It seems especially promising to conduct a comparative analysis of the change in the number of civil servants and in their earnings, as well as a study of how the dynamics of civil servants’ number correlates with an expansion or contraction of the functions of the state. Taking into account the empirical factors of the development of civil service, this will help develop a methodological basis for taking specific measures to improve the efficiency of the civil service reform.