Bruce Monkhouse said:
You have anything to back this claim up?
There is all kinds of data out there: almost none of it authoritative. Much of the data compares apples and oranges ~ we do not, for example, have private sector law enforcement and many (most) jobs in the public sector are in large, unionized work-forces whereas many, many jobs in the private sector are in small, generally non-union work-forces.
But I can try to make some broad generalizations based on the data that I have seen:
1. The greater the education requirement the less likely there is to be a pay differential ~ most "journeyman" people with PhDs in chemical engineering make more in the private sector than they do in the public sector. In other words, the government sectors reward brawn and undervalue brains ~ physicians and pharmacists in the public service make too little, hospital food service workers make too much; university professors make too little, cleaners make too much, and so it goes; and
2. The pension schemes are growing towards being 180o out of phase ~ this is becoming a major bone of contention in the "class" divide.
The military has, for 30+ years, benefited from the public service wage
inflation. I cannot remember exactly when it happened but,
circa 1970, our (military) pay scales were 'bench marked' against civil service equivalents (and we got a series of large pay raises to 'catch up') and their benefits packages were 'enhanced' to look more like ours (public service annual leave, for example, went from a minimum of two weeks to four weeks - a benefit which had been unique to the military and which was awarded, in part, to compensate for low wages and
unique conditions of service).
But it is an important argument because if government employment is too attractive is will exacerbate our productivity problems. Government work - even the defence of the realm and the safety of the public - is, broadly, economically
unproductive. We
must have
some public services, and they must be provided in an efficient and effective manner (which, broadly, means good, adequately compensated people are required) but we must, also, have a strong private sector to pay the bills. The 'gap,' between the two should be biased towards the risk-taking private sector; currently it is not.