So which public sector jobs are better paid in the public than the private sector?

[lesley33]

I am sure you have read in the news about the proposal to freeze or reduce public sector pay in poorer parts of the country. Part of the argument being put forward is that public sector wages are higher than in the private sector, in all but the South East. However I am struggling to think of jobs where public sector staff are paid more than the equivalent private sector staff. However, perhaps that is just in my area of work.

So if you know of jobs where the equivalent post is paid less in the private sector than in the public sector, please let me know.

nursery nurse. Staff in private day nurseries earn much less than staff in children's centres and nursery schools.

admin
nursery nurses
support worker staff

Civil servants earn more than private consultants often.

Insolvency/business recovery. I was paid about 30% more in the public sector (not including the pension and the 50% more holiday) than I was in the private sector. I also got to work 35 hours a week, and take TOIL for any overtime worked, so I was paid more for a lot less work when I worked in the civil service.

It's to make the 'private sector more competitive'

For more competitive read 'able to pay the lowest possible wage and so make even more money for those at the top'

Starlight - that's simply not true.

and public sector t&c are more favorable than private sector

It is in education consultancy.

I work as a nursery nurse in the private sector. I have no pension scheme, no sick pay and have the minimum holiday entitlement that the boss can get away with. I have no bonus schemes or incentives, no trade union and no on-site facilities.

Admin - not across the board. My best paid admin job (with less responsibility) was in the charitable sector. And 12 years on I'm not earning what I was when I left private.

I think there's a different between local government and civil service in this respect. Many civil service posts are very well paid and that skews the figures.

What are you basing that on starlight? IME it certainly isn't the case.

I think you're mixing up the cost of an educational consultant with the salary said consultant receives.

What do you mean?

insancarre That's not automatically true about Nurseries. In my job I go into both PVIs and CCs, and sometimes have to record what staff earn - there is no difference between childcare pay in the PVIs and CCs.

In the company I worked for, a consultant would be paid say £150 per day but be charged out to clients at around £850 per day.

No I was comparing salaries as like for like as possible.

Well all the consultants on that kind of salary level were clambering to get into central government as a first option (significantly better paid) or local government (a bit better paid with better working conditions). And it was a prestigious company I worked for with posh hotels and first class travel.

Which kind of proves my point - private sector companies making huge amounts of money but not paying comarable salaries.

Why isn't the government trying to improve pay and t&c's instead of doing everything it can to reduce them?

And why do ordinary working people think reducing pay and t & c's is a good thing...? Is it simply envy of people they perceive get a better deal than them?

Starlight in the civil service consultants earn vast amounts of money - although due to budget cuts there is less work around - other than in the MoD if the press is to be believed!

Can many jobs really be compared like for like?

I'm in academia...is there a private alternative?

You could look at skill set / qualifications / experience etc I guess.

I think there is misunderstanding across the board about the differences between costs and pay.

Some private sector employees may well earn less than public sector employees, but the cost to the taxpayer can still be a lot more because profits have to be factored in.

Look at the cost of accommodation for those that the state support? The difference between council-owned propertY and private landlords?

Interesting as IME nearly all the private consultants in education have started off in the public sector and then got private as public sector is usually where you gain experience. Unless of course you are talking about people who are simply "consultants" i.e change or management who don't really know anything about anything!

I have worked in admin in NHS, private (retail) sector and in CS (central govt). NHS was worst, retail was best. Current CS salary is roughly commensurate with private sector.

Starlight - DP is private consultant (environmental), he earns considerably more than he would in CS, tens of thousands per annum more.

Several of my colleagues came from the private sector into the CS. Every single one took a considerable paycut, but considered that the T&S and more family-friendly environment made the change worth it.

It's about time we had this change. The feather bedded public sector doesn't know how much better it is off than most private sector workers. Most people employed in the private sector amazingly are employed in companies with 5 or fewer employees. Many are on the minimum wage. Most will not be given any kind of pension.

Go anywhere - take say Cornwall and look at average salaries and then compare teacher, nurse etc salaries and you'll see the public sector is much better paid. You can repeat that just about everywhere except the City of London.

We have run out of money in this country and some private sector employees have not had a pay rise for 5 years of any kind even inflation linked and the private sector is just not prepared to pay any more the public sector in the way it has until now.

I earn 3x my daily rate as a private consultant than in my day job. Some of my colleagues have defected over completely to private work.

Plus interestingly if you do private sector consultancy you can charge the client for first class train travel and business class flights, whereas in the public sector they want you to spend about five times as long travelling in a roundabout way to cut costs (on paper anyway, even though they end up spending loads more on subsistence and extra accommodation half the time).