Public sector earn 50% more than private sector

macaque_2

Public sector workers are entitled to a decent wage but this is ridiculous.

Public sector workers receive almost 50% more in pay and pensions than their counterparts in private companies, as state wages spiral “hugely out of control”, a report has found.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8501369/Public-sector-pay-soaring-out-of-control.html

Barnabylovesicecream

I worked for 25 years in public sector. Paid 7.25 per cent into pension. No benefits.

Moved to same job in private company. 15 k more. 6k car allowance. Private medical. 5 per cent into pension. Performance related pay bonus. Option to buy reduced price shares etc

Don't believe all you read in the papers. Maybe you get more at a lower level but as a professional you get much much less. Friend recently moved from public to private -accountant- salary went up 75k.

TrickyDicky101

Having worked briefly in quasi-Public sector several years ago my impression based on my limited experience was that the public sector was far less efficient than private - there was simply no comparison between amount of real work done in private vs public. And after a while, even with relatively little to do, you end up being resentful thinking you are hard done by.

What you pay for your public sector pension simply bears no comparison to what you receive at the end.

mbga9pgf

TrickyDicky101 wrote: »

Having worked briefly in quasi-Public sector several years ago my impression based on my limited experience was that the public sector was far less efficient than private - there was simply no comparison between amount of real work done in private vs public. And after a while, even with relatively little to do, you end up being resentful thinking you are hard done by.

What you pay for your public sector pension simply bears no comparison to what you receive at the end.

I am in thr military. I have a job directly comparable with one on the outside. Pay comparison? Nowhere near. 53k currently, lowest comparable i have found outside for the same job is 80k, with much better benefits and allowances in civvie street. You may have read about the military shedding jobs. In some sreas, the military is suffering a huge crisis in retention. We are seein.g largenumbers of people saying "sod this i am off".

Pennywise

Trouble is that in the private sector there are highly paid jobs and low paid jobs - it depends on your experience, qualifications, location and pure luck which you get. Time after time, public sector people compare themselves to the "best" of the private sector rather than the typical private sector worker.

Take my profession, accountancy. There have been posters on these fora who work for HMRC in a fairly lowly capacity comparing their £20k p.a. to jobs in firms of accountants advertised at say £50k. That's pure fairytale stuff - they fail to compare themselves with the typical/average job in a local accountancy practice that's £15k-£20k for an unqualified accountant with little relevant experience. Even myself, as a fully qualified accountant with 30 years experience would be lucky to get £30k p.a. in my local area in a job that I'd be likely to secure. I'd have to move to the City and hope to be lucky enough to beat loads of others with comparable quals/exp to get £50k or more. I've never even paid higher rate tax so that tells you exactly what an average accountant gets for working in an average practice outside the main Cities!

The fact is that the above-average private sector jobs are highly sought after and the average worker (public or private) is highly unlikely to even get an interview let alone be offered the job. Just because there are "some" private sector workers who get good, high paid jobs doesn't mean all do, in fact, not even most do - in fact, most will be just plodding on on average wages, similar if not lower than public sector workers.

Sir_Humphrey

If they are going to make up a figure, they should at least choose one that might be even vaguely credible.

Andy_L

" typical state employee earns up to 35 per cent more"

"primary school teachers in state education typically earned £33,140 ... the same job in a private school.. £21,159 .. A middle–earning worker in a private company earns an hourly rate of £10.06, but someone doing the same job in the public sector earns £13.54"


So is this report based on like-for-like comparisons or median comparisons? Yet again no link to the source material so you can't tell

Andy_L

Found it:
http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/publications/publication.cgi?id=240

knock yourselves out guys

Graham_Devon

When calculated on an hourly basis, the typical state employee earns up to 35 per cent more than his counterpart in the private sector, the report finds. But when the more generous pensions for state employees are taken into account, the advantage rises to 43 per cent.

Only at the very top of the scale, where the highest earners include bankers, footballers and television stars, do private sector salaries outstrip those in the state professions.

That's simply because most of the lowest paid jobs in the public sector are contracted out to private companies.

Cleaning, refuse collection, building and maintanance, even many simple telephone/desk type jobs are now being shipped out to tender, with companies such as ROK, May Guerney etc and public bodies simply employing through private companies.

This means that many more low paid jobs are going to the private sector, while the public sector retains on it's payroll the copious amounts of middle managers.

This, skews the figures, especially on the basis they have used above, which just compares hourly wages, with no reference to the jobs undertaken.

Poor report really.

the_flying_pig

these figures are, well, not that there isn't a problem with public finances of course, but these figures are meaningless rubbish basically.

roughly on a par with the Telegraph's classic "public pensions cost you £4,000 a year (actual figure, which was itself dubious - £361.53 per household)" from last summer.

ninky_2

isn't this a result of private sector incomes being driven down rather than public sector pay increasing?

why blame people in the public sector for earning a decent wage rather than look at why people in large areas of the private sector are increasingly underpaid or in insecure jobs with poor or no fringe benefits?