Public Employment and Budgeting

Introduction  

The United States uses a participatory budgeting system. This kind of budgetary system acts as a tool for public administrators to engage the citizens in the process of resource management and allocation. Through this kind of budgeting tool, it becomes possible to yield greater public involvement. The aim of such a system is to augment accountability and transparency on the part of the government as well as confronting social and political budgetary process, which is determined by the level of employment. Public Employment and Budgeting go hand in hand and one determines the manner in which the government runs. Public employees are individuals employed by a government agency, which includes state, federal, county, college, university, municipal, and federal employees. According to the United States Employment Service (USES, which is a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Labor plays numerous vital roles. This body plays a vital role in offering employment-related labor exchange services. Some of these services include job referrals, job search assistance, labor exchange services, re-employment services to unemployment insurance claimants, and recruitment services with job opportunities. This body is supported through the federal statute such as 29 USCS § 49 within the United States Employment Service department (Mone, McKinley & Barker, 2008). The United States federal budget includes the revenues and spending of the U.S. federal government. The term budget simply implies the monetary representation of the priorities of the government. This paper highlights numerous issues regarding public employment and budgeting in the United States. 

Statement of the Problem 

This study aims to offer a description of the U.S. Budget formulation and the manner in which it is linked to public employment. As two related perspective within the government agency, public employment remains a determinant factor in the budgeting process. This study further highlights some of the most important aspects of the budgeting process in comparison to the actual operations of the U.S. government. This paper also speaks to the aspect of budget preparation and the numerous functions of government agencies when it comes to expenditure priories and budget cycle. This remains an important aspect of public administration, particularly, when it comes to issues of accountability and transparency on the part of the government. 

Literature Review 

The United States economy tumbled off in 2008 as we encountered the most pulverizing downturn since the Great Depression (Mone, McKinley & Barker, 2008). At some point in American history, joblessness hit twofold digits bringing about critical financial hardship and expanding demands on government security nets and administrations to help those in need. The state incomes plummeted as workers lost their positions and business movement contracted (Fay, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development., Organization, E. C.-D., Lippoldt, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, & Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development., 2000). As states attempted to adjust their financial plans in this powerless monetary atmosphere, public authorities in numerous states contended that the monetary holes were because of government laborers and their associations. 

The events following political jostling with regard public employees are that many bills identified with such workers and associations were presented in state lawmaking bodies, however; the vast majority of which tried to curtail the efforts of workers unions. In 2011, many states of roughly twelve went against such workers following an enactment. The states included Indiana, Arizona, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Idaho, Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Utah, Wyoming, and Tennessee. A typical method of reasoning for these propositions is that developing expenses related to public segment laborers, particularly association spoke to employees, are at the foundation of state spending shortages. According to Senator Scott Walker of Wisconsin, “we can never again live in a society where the public representatives are those who are well off and citizens who pay taxes have nothing.” A conservative feature writer in the Daily Journal noted that people like Governor Christie, he [Governor Walker] chose to really fix the issues that put Wisconsin to this situation. His spending limits government collective bargaining” (Michels, 2012). Nevertheless, the question is whether public employees have any reason to fault state spending issues. 

Gordon, Osgood, and Boden (2016) have focused on understanding the significant research on the connection between public employees, their associations and state spending shortages. The fact is that most governments around the world spend more on public employees than they spend on development activities. Most of the studies find that the extent of the public workforce per thousand occupants is not developing and past examinations have discovered that their pay, as an offer of public spending plans, has not developed (Mone, McKinley & Barker, 2008). Analysts have reliably discovered that public employees are not remunerated more exceedingly than their private division partners in the wake of considering the dimension of education, experience, and other essential elements. Finally, our relapse investigation demonstrates that vast state shortages are always expected, in substantial part, to the decrease in house costs and not because of public employees and their associations. The blasting of the housing bubble was the forerunner to the Great Recession and obviously, the huge drop in house costs that affected budgeting and the general financial atmosphere (Mone, McKinley & Barker, 2008)e. 

On the contrary, the institutions that spearhead government budgeting in most parts of the West solely grow based on their struggles for power between the executive branch and the legislature. It sometimes becomes necessary to focus on ensuring that the government does not rely on borrowing and taxes to fulfill its budgetary obligations. Over the years, this has been a challenge facing many governments around the world. Following the vanishing of feudal bonds, taxpayers demanded they were to be consulted prior to being taxed. It is noteworthy that the U.S. budget system underwent through an evolution based on numerous controversies raised at the time. In the earlier days, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton had a dispute concerning the level at which the executive branch of government spent public funds (Gordon, Osgood & Boden, 2016). In this dispute, Jefferson was victorious and his victory allowed the Congress to put forth restrictions that curtailed the powers of the executive to manipulate the budgeting process, as well as hindering the misuse of public funds. 

In the wake of the 20 th century, numerous economic activities are controlled either directly or indirectly through the numerous levels of government. The levels include state, federal, local and state among others. Through such initiatives, it has become clear that the budget has followed other functions such as monitoring of the expenditure and overall revenue. In the United States, government expenditures are presently planned in considerable detail, however; the sheer scale of government spending raises numerous control problems (Mone, McKinley & Barker, 2008). These issues vary from different control systems, which have been instrumental in some countries. Taxation is also another aspect of budgeting that raises numerous question since it helps in the redistribution of income while discouraging or encouraging certain activities. Sometimes, taxation is never enough and the government must borrow to fund its budget. In countries such as the United States, this is normally done when a country wants to finance a recurring war deficit. Although in the United Kingdom the planning is done in secret by civil servants and minister, in the U.S. it takes a lengthy debate to make significant changes to the budget. However, largely, different levels of government usually complicate the budgetary process based on their influence and control over different expenses and items included in the budget (Tjur, 2009). 

Gordon, Osgood, and Boden (2016) believe that budgeting remains an integral aspect of financial data activity. Such economists define it as the process of allocating finite resources towards the prioritized needs of the organization. In most instances, the budgetary process represents the legal authority for spending public money. The executive has to make numerous decision prior to spending public funds and it must be done by matching the needs with the resources. Overall, the most vital aspect of budgeting is planning because, without planning, the budget may fail the evaluation and control process (Gordon, Osgood & Boden, 2016). This simply implies that the budget remains an essential tool for evaluation and control of resources. This is achievable through utilizing the accounting systems available, which help in controlling and governing the bodies that carry out the budgetary process. Nevertheless, where does public employment come into play when budget making is underway? The answer to this query is that in many government institutions, there is a link between budget preparation or financial planning and public expenditure. In this case, public employees come into play because they are always considered essential to ensure that the government spends effectively. Additionally, budgets in the public arena remain the definitive policy framework since it stands for the monetary plan utilized by a government to realize its goals. The moment a government unit decides to legally adopt a financial plan, the budget must have secured the approval of the majority (Gordon, Osgood & Boden, 2016). The bottom line is that budgeting remains an instrumental tool for both evaluation and planning. Budgeting plays an important role in performance evaluation since it allows taxpayers and citizens to hold accountable for their actions the executive and policymakers. The cornerstone of budgeting in most states in the U.S. remains important when it comes to financial reporting. It is important to avail information to the public since they play an integral in generating revenues. 

Besides, there is the theoretical perspective of budgeting and public employment that play an essential role in understanding the budgetary process. One of them is the institutional theory, which dates back to thousands of years. It was a theory proposed by Max Weber, and it focused on the manner in which institutions and bureaucracy became dominant in society. Additionally, this theory highlights an important aspect, which is social behavior where institutions offer stability and meaning (Gordon, Osgood & Boden, 2016). The other theory is the cognitive evaluation theory that focuses on the task and the manner in which people need to feel competent and in control. This theory speaks to the idea of people becoming intrinsically motivated to attain the objectives set. The external locus of control is essential in ensuring that the environment allows for greater influence. The other theory is the notion of budgeting that looks at the political and social motivations behind civil society and government budgeting. It was an essential approach used in the Progressive Era in the nascent Brookings Institution. It emphasizes that for organizations of government to budget effectively, it must focus on planning solving issues of control while addressing the future potential risks (Marcormick & Hardcastle, 2011). 

Findings 

Since the main goal for this study was to investigate the public employment and budgetary process, it has found that good budgetary process aids in the great financial performance of nations. According to the literature review, it becomes apparent that the effectiveness of the process of budgeting clearly enhances financial management and performance. In fact, budgetary planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation is vital in influencing the general financial performance of a country (Mone, McKinley & Barker, 2008). The study also established a regulatory framework is necessary with improved stakeholder engagement. 

Conclusion 

It is evident that public employment is an instrumental aspect of management since the public are paid through a country’s budget. When it comes to determining the essential frameworks for paying public employees, budgeting remains a vital tool in guaranteeing transparency and accountability. In the United States, the budgetary process remains essential is supporting transparent and accountable financial performance (Mone, McKinley & Barker, 2008). It also affirms the significance of policy-making, proper resource management, revenue sharing, and better targeting resources. In fact, this study has affirmed that it is imperative to put the government in check because to ensure that funds go to the respective areas where they are allocated. Governments usually have problems concerning the legislative process since it monitors the resource allocation processes. Concisely, it is clear that citizens remain vigilant to ensure that financial management is transparent and accountable at all times. This is only achievable through addressing the inefficiencies through adopting the best possible tools for control, oversight, and timely budgeting (Mone, McKinley & Barker, 2008). Generally, the bottom line is that the budgetary process plays an integral role in determining the running of the public sector including public employees. Financial performance of any nation relies on the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the budgetary process. The national government or the federal government must always focus on reducing resource leakages while improving transparency and accountability when implementing budgetary activities. The most important aspect of the entire process is to monitor the funds that go to public employees or any other stakeholders while at the same time, ensuring the process adheres to the three crucial stages highlighted above. 

Recommendations 

For the government to guarantee accountability and transparency in the budgetary process, it must involve all the stakeholders. This will be essential in ensuring that no funds are lost through unscrupulous means. Public employees are part of the budget allocation and they should always have a say in the budgetary process. However, it is imperative for future research to focus on the below three major areas: 

Factors affecting the adoption of the best financial management approaches; 

Influence of citizen participation in the budgetary process to improve the monetary performance of the government of the day and; 

Factors affecting compliance with regulatory systems when it comes to managing public finance management of the government. 

Above all, it will be necessary to involve all stakeholders by emphasizing the need to engage the public in the budgetary process. This will help in addressing the issues of transparency and accountability because everyone will feel involved in the process. It will be significant to emphasize the importance of functional integration through better management of benefit systems and active labor market policies. 

References 

Fay, R. G., Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development., Organization, E. C.-D., Lippoldt, D., Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, & Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2000). The Public Employment Service in the United States . Paris: OECD Publishing. 

Gordon, V., Osgood, J.L. & Boden, D. (2016). Participatory Budgeting in the United States: A Guide for Local Governments. Taylor & Francis. 

Marcormick, G. & Hardcastle, N. (2011). Budgetary Control and Organizational Performance, Journal of Finance and Accounting, 2 (1):1-8. 

Michels, A. (2012). Citizen Participation in Local Policy Making: Design and Democracy. International Journal of Public Administration , 285-292. 

Mone, M. McKinley, W. & Barker, V. (2008). Organizational Decline and Innovation: Survey of North – American budgeting practice Management Accounting Research VoI.2 Issues 1, P.56-75. 

Tjur, T. (2009). “ Coefficients of determination in logistic regression models— A new proposal: The coefficient of discrimination.” The American Statistician 63: 366-372.