The gap between public and private sector pay continues to widen
In a damning indictment of the ever-growing size of the U.K.'s public sector it has been revealed that on average workers in the public sector are paid £2,000 a year more than their counterparts in the private sector. The average public sector worker now brings in around £23,660 year compared to £21,528 year for those in the private sector. This is the first time that the gap between the two sectors has increased beyond £2,000 and has prompted massive criticism of the UK government's policy of increasing the public sector workforce on an ongoing basis.
When you also take into account the ever-growing pension fund deficit on final salary pension schemes in the public sector, the benefits of working for the state have never been better, often to the detriment of those in the private sector. There is a feeling that the unions have exerted undue pressure on the UK government to protect jobs in the public sector and we have seen a number of battles regarding wage increases over the last few years.
There is growing concern that the expansion of the public sector is a ticking time bomb waiting to happen not only from a pension deficit point of view but also because of the ultimate cost to the UK taxpayer.
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