Public sector pay rises v private sector.

[Katypp]

We hear endlessly on MN that public sector workers are underpaid, overworked and do not have the advantages workers in the private sector have. All nonsense of course, as is the rhetoric about being able to earn much more for the same job in the private sector.
Teachers are being balloted about rejecting a 2.8% pay increase the year after they received a 5.5% increase.
I thought it woukd be interesting to try and get an idea of the reality of the public v private sector pay debate.
I'll start.
Work for a FTSE 100 company. This year we are getting 2%, last year was 1.5%.
I am paid just under £33k for a professional, skilled job, albeit in a generally low-paid sector. So less than a bin driver apparently.
There is no direct comparison to my job in the public sector, but the nearest equivalent was advertised at £38-£42k a couple of years ago.

Usually public sector pay rises aren’t announced until about June/July then staff aren’t paid them until about September/October, well for the NHS anyway.

It’s not a race to the bottom.

No. And many public sector workers had no or minimal wage increases for many years prior to covid.

All nonsense of course

Sure it is. Thats why people are queuing up to be teachers.

Move into the public sector then? Do you get 2%ish every year? Because we had a pay freeze for a decade alongside detrimental changes to our pensions.

Private pay increases have outdone public over the past few years, both below inflation though.

I’m paid better in public sector than I was in private but I worked in the media and they notoriously pay badly (although everyone is super impressed… very weird. I assume they thought I earned celeb levels of pay). That said, as a previous poster said, I’m nhs and my pay rise for last April finally actually arrived in October with back pay (which totally messes up student loan and they take too much but you don’t get it back so take home wise get less than if you’d had it monthly since April). It also is a massive pain for anyone with top up benefits and you have the embarrassment and hassle of having to contact payroll to spread payments. It’s messed up! I’m fine with the amount I’m paid plus holiday allowance.

bil feels hard done by as a teacher but he’s on more than me (£62k last time he mentioned it) so I assume the historically poor pay teachers received is such an ingrained rhetoric they believe it.

Generally, public sector wages are not great, but there will always be outliers. The disparity gets worse the higher up you go, I work in the NHS and I would say below band 5 it’s probably fairly on par, but band 5 and above clinical, for the level of qualifications and responsibility it’s really not well paid at all.

I have a bachelors degree, a masters degree plus advanced qualifications am mid point of band 7 (so very senior with a lot of responsibility) and earn less than my sister in law who has no degree or professional qualifications and works as a trainee accountant. I earn less than my friend who is a trainee estimator, and less than her husband who works as a roofer (not self employed). Once they are fully qualified they will be earning almost double what I do.

Our starting salaries are not bad, but the small pay rises we do get and relatively small increases to pay when we go up bands (which comes with significant increases in responsibility, qualifications and skills) means we start to trail behind private salaries fairly quickly.

In truth, public sector workers are paid less than private sector workers. In some areas the gap is narrowing, but not all. For all the moaning and nonsense from private sectors workers, I can't recall a private sector pay freeze lasting years, but I'm sure you'll manage to invent one.

I’m in the public sector. My mid 50s salary is £75-95k in the private sector so even if you add in my pension benefits I would only reach the bottom end of that range. The advantage to me of being in the public sector is that at my age I would not be employable in the private sector - joined public sector when I was pushed out of big four consulting at 50. It’s not just about money.

I work in a digital/tech role in government. I could earn far more, with many more perks, in the private sector but I don’t wish to use my skills in that way and I appreciate the flexibility I get.

Go work on the bins or work for a better employer then.

I work in the public sector and could earn a lot more in private sector.

Also a lot of the public sector payrises in the news onyl relate to lower paid staff who get larger increase to stay above minimum wage. Higher grades rarely get half that

I work in IT and took a noticeable pay cut when moving from private sector to public. Pay rises have been below inflation for years too. I've seen equivalent jobs to what I'm doing now in the private sector and they're 30-50% better paid than where I am now.

On the plus side the work/life balance here is better. I work a lot fewer evenings and weekends than I used to. On the other hand when I do work out-of-hours I used to get overtime whereas that simply doesn't exist where I work now.

no such thing as a bonus in public sector either

In my school staff are being CHARGED £58 to go to the y11 prom.

Where they will be supervising teenagers until midnight.

Ahem...what about the tub of celebrations at Xmas? 🤣

I don't really understand where the narrative comes from that private sector earn more. Once you include pension I thought public sectors has a bigger deal.
There is also a narrative that everyone in the private sector is a banker on 6 figs but this isn't reality.

Most wages regardless of sector have stagnated since the crash

And many public sector workers had no or minimal wage increases for many years prior to covid.

"Public sector pay held up much better than private sector pay between 2009 and 2014"

Austerity affected most workers.

I think teaches get paid well but many are unhappy with the conditions which is separate.

The advantage to me of being in the public sector is that at my age I would not be employable in the private sector

Job security is definitely better - it's why I moved to public plus better sick pay and a fair bit more holiday.

no such thing as a bonus in public sector either

I get paid overtime, overtime was expected and unpaid in private.

I thought the teachers were being balloted because yet again this payrise of 2.5% is expected to come out of the schools current budget- thats the problem, the unfunded payrises, not the payrise itself?