Funding for Public Relations in the State Administration Sector Cut to 5%

In 2009 the public relations industry in the state administration sector will receive not more than 5% from the total state budget. Furthermore, the funding of most state institutions does not exceed even 1%, has proved the survey on the public relations (PR) field in the state administration sector conducted by the communication, market and public opinion survey agency A.W.Olsen&Partners In financial terms, the amount ranges from 1,750 up to 1,639,535 Ls/year.

The survey found that in 80% of the surveyed state institutions PR is the responsibility of a dedicated department: a specialised communication or public relations (63%) sector or integrated marketing sector (17%).

Only in 7% of cases these responsibilities are performed by a single person – a PR specialist or press secretary.

On average, PR departments of state institutions consist of 4 staff positions. Besides, the following pattern was observed – the more employees are recruited in state institutions, the more staff positions are allocated to public relations. For instance, in institutions with more than 51 employees the number of positions for communication specialists ranges from 2 to as many as 18.

Following the analysis of the obtained results, it may be concluded that the number of PR specialists in the state administration sector is sufficient – in 81% of cases or 23 state administration institutions PR staff positions are fully filled. In one of the institutions as many as 125% of the allocated stuff positions are filled.

“In the situation when, on the one hand, state institutions have to cut their spending, but, on the other hand, in times of crisis well-considered communication is crucial to building, maintaining or improving an institution’s image, it is important to select a public relations model, which will enable the most efficient disposition of the funds, while attracting high-class public relations professionals. Not infrequently, it can be achieved by a partial use of outsourcing,” believes Olga Kazaka, Partner at A.W.Olsen & Partners.

Despite the fact that the survey was conducted using official registered letters, information was provided only by less than a half or 30 state institutions. All in all, 66 Latvia’s state administration institutions were invited to participate in the survey “On the public relations field in the state administration sector”. Survey duration: October to December 2008.