Local government pensions and the Tories

dzug1

There's a flaw in your comparisons, Barney_100, in that the average or median public sector worker is not doing the same job as the average or median private sector worker, so you wouldn't expect them to be the same.

Whatever the 'truth' is is going to be lost in hysteria anyway. I do know that when I worked in the public sector (not that many years ago) we had grave problems retaining staff as they all (well lots of them) hiked off for better pay in the private sector.

seven-day-weekend

dzug1 wrote: »

There's a flaw in your comparisons, Barney_100, in that the average or median public sector worker is not doing the same job as the average or median private sector worker, so you wouldn't expect them to be the same.

Whatever the 'truth' is is going to be lost in hysteria anyway. I do know that when I worked in the public sector (not that many years ago) we had grave problems retaining staff as they all (well lots of them) hiked off for better pay in the private sector.

Same in my department too (Town Planning). All the qualified Planners could do better financially in the private sector.

barny_100

dzug1 wrote: »

There's a flaw in your comparisons, Barney_100, in that the average or median public sector worker is not doing the same job as the average or median private sector worker, so you wouldn't expect them to be the same.

I don't understand how this "flaw" improves the comparison, are you saying the average public sector worker deserves more/is better qualified than the average private sector worker?

barny_100

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Same in my department too (Town Planning). All the qualified Planners could do better financially in the private sector.

One of my best friends works as a Town Planner and has worked in the private sector in the same field. In his experience the cultures are miles apart and not really comparable. Plus are you taking the public-sector pension value into account? That can make up big differences in current pay.

seven-day-weekend

barny_100 wrote: »

One of my best friends works as a Town Planner and has worked in the private sector in the same field. In his experience the cultures are miles apart and not really comparable. Plus are you taking the public-sector pension value into account? That can make up big differences in current pay.

Isn't that what I said in the first place about how the LG Pensions are justified?

Ygor

barny_100 wrote: »

I don't understand how this "flaw" improves the comparison, are you saying the average public sector worker deserves more/is better qualified than the average private sector worker?

Distribution of theworkforce in the 2 sectors is very different

Private sector contains a lot more mcjobs ( e.g. the majority of shop assistants, bar staff etc) which lowers the average.

Public sector contains more professional (e.g. the majority of doctors, teachers etc) which increase the average.

Andy_L

barny_100 wrote: »

are you saying the average public sector worker deserves more/is better qualified than the average private sector worker?

better qualified: Yes,
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/elmr/05_07/downloads/ELMR_0507Millard_Machin.pdf

pg53, table 13
32.4% of Public sector have degrees against 19.2% in the private sector.

A_Nice_Englishman

barny_100 wrote: »

In my book this would be a vote winner, a massive one for me personally actually. Unaffordable and unfunded pensions for public sector workers are a massive issue. In my opinion they have to be stopped ASAP, it's happened in the private sector and within T&C's should happen in the public sector.

As to what they will do? You'll have to ask George O!

The OP was talking about the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). This is NOT unfunded. Local government employers and employees (yes, they pay towards their pensions) are putting enough money aside to meet future liabilities.

Barny will be pleased to know that benefits in the LGPS have already been worsened. In my case it means I will have to work another 5 years.

barny_100

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Isn't that what I said in the first place about how the LG Pensions are justified?

My comment was in relation about a specific job that someone said was better paid in private sector.

When the figures seem to show on average they are not as badly paid as the "myth" says and the fact they then have on top far, far superior pensions it means the taxpayer is not getting good value in my book.

CLAPTON

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Same in my department too (Town Planning). All the qualified Planners could do better financially in the private sector.

you're more in cloud cuckoo land than up a mountain...

private sector spacial planning jobs are currently impossible to find and with lots of redundancies in the private sector.