The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the important role played by public employees in delivering essential services, keeping citizens healthy, safe and economically supported. Public employees are also central actors in the recovery that is taking shape, whether they are delivering vaccination strategies or designing and implementing plans for the recovery of economy and society. However, the roles and functions of the public sector relative to other sectors vary across OECD countries, affecting the relative size of public employment. Governments decide which services should be delivered directly through public organisations, or through various forms of partnerships with the private or not-for-profit sectors. For example, in some countries, the large majority of health care providers, teachers and emergency workers are directly employed by the government. In others, these workers are mainly employed by private or non-profit organisations.