Two tier Britain – the public sector versus the private sector

The latest figures  for wages confirm the Labour trend. They see the public sector as good, the private sector as bad.They think the public sector is still underpaid, and the private sector paid too much. Annual average earnings growth was 6.1% for the public sector and 2.8% for the private sector, a very  large gap. Bonuses have to be earned by generating more turnover and profit in the private sector. The  public sector pays bonuses for failure, as with the bonus payments to senior Post Office Executives for losses and false charges against staff. The bosses  of HS 2 got rewards for big delays and massive cost overruns.

In the private sector people have to compete to get quality up and costs down. Failure to achieve a good enough performance leads to job losses and sackings for poor performance. In the worst cases it leads to bankruptcy, business closure and loss of all jobs. Big failings on quality and cost in the public sector like hospital avoidable deaths or rail crashes caused by nationalised tracks and signals lead to bigger  grants  of money and agreement it was no-one’s fault. The answer for most problems in the public sector is more resources. In the private sector it is often better management.

The private sector is finding the demands of the public sector too great, leading to businesses reducing staff, cutting other costs, or closing down. A haughty and demanding public  sector  seeks through regulation to make normal working more and more  difficult, whilst  through higher taxes it makes it less and less worthwhile.

No wonder vacancies have fallen again, jobs are down and unemployment up. Labour’s savage tax and regulatory attack on the private sector is having the predictable effect of closing things down or forcing cuts the public sector would never accept for itself.