In February 2025, the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) in China resided at about 50.2 percent. An indicator of the economic health of the manufacturing sector, the PMI is based on five major indicators: new orders, inventory levels, production, supplier deliveries, and the employment environment. An index value above 50 percent indicates a positive development in the industrial sector, whereas a value below 50 percent indicates a negative situation. The PMI as a major economic indicator The Purchasing Managers' Index was first introduced by the US-based Institute of Supply Management in 1948. It has become one of the most widely used and closely watched indicators of business activities worldwide. The PMI is not only an apt indicator for manufacturing growth, it also supports interest rate decisions of central bank institutions. PMI figures around the globe were dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In the Euro area, the PMI recovered from a considerable drop in April 2020, regaining pre-crisis level in June. In the United States, the monthly PMI indicated an even better improvement from low values in April and March. Recent PMI development in China As is shown in the graph at hand, the PMI of China as the world’s second-largest economy dropped considerably in February 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. In March, the index indicated a striking rebound and ranged at a level slightly above 50 index points afterwards. During 2021, the index was characterized by a slightly downward trend. In 2022, the index displayed an unstable development with two significant dips in April and December, finally concluding with a strong rebound in January 2023. The non-manufacturing PMI in China displayed a similar development.

Abstract

The objective of the survey is to develop a systematic approach to study and improve public administration in Brazil. The survey aims to diagnose the needs, attitudes, motivations, organizational environments, and general practices of public servants and their organizational units. The study encompasses federal public administration employees, with a special focus on the public procurement function.

Geographic coverage

Public procurement official across the country

Analysis unit

Individual public procurement officials

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The survey targeted key agents working in the Brazilian procurement process, whose actions are fundamental in determining the efficiency of public procurement. These agents include auctioneers, procurement managers, and planning officers. We targeted procurement agents from all Brazilian federal public organizations that conducted at least one purchase between 2019 and 2023.

We used administrative data from ComprasNet, the main federal government management information system for public procurement, to identify and obtain contact information for procurement auctioneers. This system records every bid and public contract from the federal government. For each bid, it is possible to identify and track (by unique national ID) the auctioneer of the bid, and the homologator associated with it — the individual administratively responsible for approving the results of the bidding process. Given that we have access to the universe of tenders from the federal government spanning from 2019 to 2023, we are able to identify and connect, to each bid, the entire set of auctioneers over this period. We identified and obtained contact information for 11,215 auctioneers. The MGI distributed the online survey to these individuals via SouGov, an internal messaging platform used by the federal government. Information on procurement managers and planning officers is unavailable in Compras- Net, preventing us from linking these individuals to specific bids or directly obtaining their contact information. To reach these public servants, we employed an indirect and non-targeted dissemination strategy. MGI sent private messages with the link to the survey to all users of the Procurement Portal of the Federal Government (Portal de Compras do Governo Federal) — an intranet for public servants involved in public procurement. It is important to note that every individual with access to the portal, regardless of their procurement role, received an invitation to participate in the survey. Consequently, we received responses to the survey from a wide range of procurement officers, including those originally targeted as well as others not in our target population, such as contract managers and homologators, has become mandatory since 2019.

Information on procurement managers and planning officers is unavailable in Compras- Net, preventing us from linking these individuals to specific bids or directly obtaining their contact information. To reach these public servants, we employed an indirect and non- targeted dissemination strategy. MGI sent private messages with the link to the survey to all users of the Procurement Portal of the Federal Government (Portal de Compras do Governo Federal)—an intranet for public servants involved in public procurement. It is important to note that every individual with access to the portal, regardless of their procurement role, received an invitation to participate in the survey. Consequently, we received responses to the survey from a wide range of procurement officers, including those originally targeted as well as others not in our target population, such as contract managers and homologators.

Mode of data collection

Internet [int]

Research instrument

The survey consists of eight modules, along with an additional section including socioeconomic and demographic questions. 1. Respondents’ trajectory in the public sector, and measures tenure, experience with procurement, and task-time allocation. 2. Motivation for their job, perceptions about task significance, and motivation with public service in general. 3. Job satisfaction, including with salary, manager and peers. 4. Personality traits (Big-5) and risk-taking behaviors. 5. Perception of procurement performance as important for advancing their careers in the public sector. 6. "Red tape" (perceptions and experience with rules). 7. Procurement practices at organizational level. 8. Respondents’ perceptions of their influence on procurement outcomes, including the prices paid and the quality of products purchased.

Questionnaires in Portuguese (original language) and English are provided as attachments.

Cleaning operations

The data has been processed to remove any identifying information, including names and email voluntary informed by respondents. We have also recoded the variable for purchasing unit to only identify those with at least 10 respondents; the remaining are pooled as "other".

The full sample in this catalog contains 1,334 respondents and include a subsample of late respondents not used in the report attached. Observations used in the report are coded as "1" in the variable "Wave".

In September 2024, the global PMI amounted to 47.5 for new export orders and 48.8 for manufacturing. The manufacturing PMI was at its lowest point in August 2020. It decreased over the last months of 2022 after the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war and rising inflation hit the world economy, and remained around 50 since.