Comparing sub-national policy workers in Canada and the Czech Republic: Who are they, what they do, and why it matters?^*

* The work of Arnoš Veselý was supported by the Czech Science Foundation Grant (P404/12/0725). The work of Adam Wellstead was in part supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions.

Figures & data

Table 1 Basic profile of subnational policy workers in Canada and Czech Republic.

		Canada	Czech Republic
Gender	Female	58.4	61.7
	Male	41.6	38.3
Age	30 or younger	15.9	20.9
	31–40	27.1	30.5
	41–50	27.6	23.2
	51–60	24.1	22.7
	Over 60	5.3	2.6
Employed in present organization	Less than 1 year	14.4	7.3
	1–5 years	43.7	38.1
	6–10 years/6–9 years	15.4	31.5
	10–14 years/More than 10 years	8.0	23.1
	15–20 years	8.5	n.a.
	More than 20 years	10.1	n. a.
Educational Attainment	ISCED 2 (Basic education)	n. a.	.1
	High School/ISCED 3A (Upper Secondary Education)	2.2	11.5
	College or technical/ISCED 5B (Tertiary vocational schools)	5	1.9
	University/ISCED 5A — Bachelor	32.2	10.1
	Graduate or Professional/ISCED 5A — Master	60.7	70.2
	ISCED 6 (PhD.)	n.a.	6.1
Previous work experience ^a	Academia	22.0	4.7
	Federal Government/Ministry	12.9	4.3
	Other organization of central state administration than Ministry	n.a.	7.4
	Municipal government department or agency/Regional (or municipal) authority	11.0	22.3
	Other department or agency in your current province/Other organization of regional administration	44.2	6.3
	Non-state non-profit sector	26.1	5.7
	Private sector	16.7	22.9
	Department or agency in another country/Foreign (or supra-national) organization of public administration	5.4	0.3
	No previous experience	n.a.	12.5
Anticipation of being in present department/in current organization	Less than 1 year	12.1	2.4
	1–5 years/1–2 years	54.9	12.7
	3–5 years	n.a.	27.2
	6–9 years/6–10 years	14.5	19.0
	10–14 years/More than 10 years	10.7	38.7
	15–20 years	4.5	n.a.
	More than 20 years	3.3	n.a.

a The wording in the Czech questionnaire was more restrictive because it focused on formal working groups and committees.

Table 2 Education and degree subject area.

	Canada%	Czech Republic%
Political Science	16.0	.9
Business Management	14.2	7.7
Economics	11.7	15.5
- /Other social sciences	10.3	n.a.
Public Administration	9.9	3.8
Sociology	7.8	1.2
Natural Sciences	7.0	6.5
Public and Social Policy/Public Policy	6.6	1.7
Environmental Studies	6.5	8.5
Law	6.5	5.5
Geography	6.4	5.8
History	5.8	3.0
Education	4.8	11.1
Fine Arts/Humanities or fine arts	4.7	.6
Planning	4.6	4.6
- /English	4.6	n.a.
- /Natural Resource Management	3.4	n.a.
- /Other health sciences	3.0	n.a.
Journalism and Library Studies/Communications or journalism	2.4	.3
- /Other arts or humanities	2.2	n.a.
Engineering	2.1	12.6
Languages or linguistics	2.1	.7
Computing Science	1.6	2.3
Medicine	.4	1.3
Agriculture	n.a.	10.0
Social Policy and Social Work	n.a.	5.2
Psychology	n.a.	2.9
Mathematics	n.a.	2.7
Philosophy, theology	n.a.	2.7
Transport	n.a.	2.0
Military	n.a.	1.7
Architecture	n.a.	1.6
Interdisciplinary	n.a.	1.0
International Relations	n.a.	1.0
Physical Education and Sport	n.a.	1.0

Table 3 Comparison of policy-related activities.

Tasks	Canada			Czech Republic
	N	SD	Mean	N	SD	M
Appraise policy options ^**	1365	1.13	3.57	783	1.56	3.38
Collect policy-related data or information ^***	1392	1.00	3.99	783	1.46	3.22
Conduct policy-related research ^***	1401	1.07	3.81	783	.87	1.51
Identify policy issues ^***	1410	1.00	3.93	783	1.56	3.33
Identify policy options ^***	1405	1.00	3.72	783	1.56	3.41
Implement or deliver policies or programs	1335	1.14	2.90	783	1.56	2.91
Negotiate with stakeholders on policy matters ^***	1347	1.19	2.84	783	1.31	2.54
Negotiate with central agencies on policy matters ^***	1298	1.24	2.62	783	.98	2.21
Consult with the public on policy matters ^***	1292	.975	1.97	783	1.61	2.53
Consult with stakeholders on policy matters ^***	1382	1.00	2.76	783	1.31	2.54
Prepare reports, briefs or presentations for decision-makers on policy matters ^***	1391	.960	3.75	783	1.36	3.09
Consult with decision-makers on policy matters ^***	1388	1.09	3.44	783	1.26	2.02
Brief lower or mid-level policy managers ^***	1350	1.13	3.47	783	1.51	4.19
Brief high level decision-makers ^**	1372	1.14	2.85	783	1.44	3.02
Evaluate policy results and outcomes ^***	1363	1.15	2.93	783	1.02	1.97
Evaluate policy processes and procedures ^***	1361	1.17	2.89	783	.92	1.78

*** Significant at the .001 level.

** Significant at the .01 level.

Table 4 Factor analysis of policy work tasks (Canadian and Czech PWs combined).

	Component
	Policy analysis work α = .871	Evidence based work α = .830	Consulting and briefing α = .651
Appraise policy options	.832	.189	.292
Collect policy-related data or information	.722	.344	−.026
Conduct policy-related research	.355	.707	−.304
Identify policy issues	.851	.287	.196
Identify policy options	.866	.239	.263
Implement or deliver policies or programs	.484	.118	.387
Negotiate with central agencies on policy matters	.180	.456	.376
Consult with the public on policy matters	.087	−.015	.698
Consult with stakeholders on policy matters	.197	.372	.554
Prepare reports, briefs or presentations for decision-makers on policy matters	.356	.532	.327
Consult with decision-makers on policy matters	.167	.768	.173
Brief lower or mid-level policy managers	.255	−.050	.696
Brief high level decision-makers	.100	.335	.600
Evaluate policy results and outcomes	.234	.776	.129
Evaluate policy processes and procedures	.172	.816	.107

Table 5 Differences between Canadian and Czech PWs in three clusters of policy-related tasks.

Tasks	Canada			Czech Republic
	N	SD	Mean	N	SD	M
Policy analysis work ^***	1275	.81	3.63	783	1.36	3.25
Evidence based work ^***	1216	.77	3.25	783	.72	2.10
Consulting and briefing ^***	1221	.72	2.75	783	1.06	3.07

*** Significant at .001.