The Sunday Times today says most public sector workers are getting pay increases

Kennyboy66

Old_Slaphead wrote: »

The reason why more in public sector have a degree is that there have been very few jobs created in private sector over the last decade and Labour have made it almost obligatory to go to University. It's not surprising that most graduates have ended up in the public sector. Most jobs (not all) do not need a degree and many job holders have degrees in non-relevant subjects....do they count too?

When one talk's about education doesn't learning a trade, vocational qualifications, apprenticeships, on the job training etc etc qualify as being educated to a higher standard ? Watching my plumber knock his house down & rebuild it recently I would suggest that he's educated to a higher standard than many pen pushing, non-relevant "degree qualified" Civil Servants.

I think you can distinguish between skills and education.

Shrinking the UK public sector is the easy bit, the hard bit is getting past the fact that the UK's vocational qualifications and skills are way behind our competitors. Which is why despite working longer hours, productivity is way behind Germany and France.

Old_Slaphead

Kennyboy66 wrote: »

Shrinking the UK public sector is the easy bit, the hard bit is getting past the fact that the UK's vocational qualifications and skills are way behind our competitors. Which is why despite working longer hours, productivity is way behind Germany and France.

Possibly - but could it also be lower capital investment, red tape, benefits culture & poor management too? Maybe we're behind Germany but their work ethic is legendary - I'm not to sure that we're much different to the rest of Europe.

ILW

Do the Germans have a fair proportion of their population who are better off claiming benefits than they would be working?