What do you call this in English?
What do you call a person who works for the government in English? Like, police and workers at City Hall, etc.

I can find many different terms, like 'civil servant', 'public servant', 'public official' and 'government employee' in my English dictionary. What is that is most used by a native speaker?

Question

What do you call this in English?
What do you call a person who works for the government in English? Like, police and workers at City Hall, etc.

I can find many different terms, like 'civil servant', 'public servant', 'public official' and 'government employee' in my English dictionary. What is that is most used by a native speaker?

Answer

As Gary said it varies from country to country. In the UK if you work for a national government department or agency you are a 'civil servant.' If your job is providing a government service in general (so that would include things like doctors, teachers, the police, local council workers etc) then you are a 'public sector worker.' Those jobs are known by the collective term 'public sector jobs.'

Answer

That probably varies a bit from country to country. Here it would probably be a public servant. Although, having said that, most people would think of a public servant as someone who works for a government department, and might not include the police in that. And here - people who work for the city council would not be called public servants, but council workers.