Abstract:
This paper attempts to identify what needs to be done to reform the pay system for government employees in Egypt through proposing a concrete set of feasible policy solutions and strategies. After dissecting the structure and composition of the current pay system, conducting structured interviews with a sample of Egyptian government employees to solicit their views about the adequacy of pay and reviewing other countries’ experiences with pay reform, the authors identify a number of strategic issues and complementary strategies that are critical to resolving the problem. Foremost among these issues are securing the needed extra funding for increasing government employees’ pay, right-sizing the government civil service, enhancing transparency, reducing wage discrepancies, reforming the minimum wage policy and establishing a better link between pay and performance. To conclude, the study stresses that the urgency of the problem requires the Government of Egypt to consider pay reform a top priority and work immediately on developing its civil service reform strategy and implementation plans in consultation with stakeholders.
