civil service

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Those branches of public service that are not legislative, judicial, or military and in which employment is usually based on competitive examination.
• noun The entire body of persons employed by the civil branches of a government.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun In parliamentary forms of government, the branches of government that are not military, legislative or judicial, but work to apply its laws and regulations
• noun the body of civilian employees of any level of government, not subject to political appointment and removal, normally hired and promoted largely on the basis of competitive examination.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun government workers; usually hired on the basis of competitive examinations