One third of people in employment in Newcastle are employed by the state..

[SixtyFootDoll]

How can we as a Country keep going if most of us are State employees?
Esp when the Councils start haveing to make cuts.

But the third in Newcastle isn't representative of the country as a whole? Lots of work shifted up there because they can pay them less and lower staff turnover.

The NHS is the biggest employer in the country - don't forget that this also includes school staff as well as councils and the emergency services.

CarGirl is right though that Newcastle isn't representative of the country as a whole - a third of the country isn't employed by the state. Some areas are more reliant on state employment though which makes them very vulnerable when cuts come along.

I meant that state employment includes school staff as well as councils and the emergency services - the NHS doesn't employ them obviously

Newcastle is where DSS/Inland Revenue has HUGE operations wrt files/archives/claims etc etc

Are you sure it as few as 1/3?

I only ask as my DW is from Newcastle and I had heard the public sector makes up nearly 60% of the local economy.

economy doesn't = employed though

The government moved a lot of employment to their 'voting' areas ie; up north, that way they keep getting votes ( oh cynical me) it's also the reason they wont be cutting jobs in those areas until after the election.

Councils will be cutting a lot of workers over the next few years, my local and borough councils have already started, they simply don't have the money to do anything but as government cutbacks have already effected all areas.

Once the election is over we should all expect huge job loses in the public sector in all areas, thats what happens when you spend all the money in the treasury and theres nothing left for buffering the storm.

I'm not just speaking of the dss, my sister worker for dept of agriculture in fisheries farming and food, tracking livestock for the south east which has now been moved up north, all existing staff made redundant because as the head honcho told her, the staff are cheaper, thicker and will vote labour, it was originally based in a labour stronghold who had the audacity to vote conservative at the last election.

Other such agencies have also been moved 'up north', it would be interesting to see a map of all the 'moves' and to where.

Well 'head honcho' was obviously wrong then. Did the Permanent Secretary (head honcho) really say that?? Staff up north aren't that much cheaper. London weighting adds maybe 2k on an annual salary. But thicker? Recruitment policies/qualification requirements are the same wherever.

And they've been DEFRA since 2001 so it must have been a long time ago.

Interesting comments, I also read that Birminhgam Helath Board is the largest employee in Europe!
It's all very worrying.

"And they've been DEFRA since 2001 so it must have been a long time ago"

Last year, I don't know her working title all I know is she counted cows in and sheep out and maybe a few chickens along the way.

"Did the Permanent Secretary (head honcho) really say that??"

Oh yes, very clever, her head honcho.

"London weighting adds maybe 2k on an annual salary. But thicker? Recruitment policies/qualification requirements are the same wherever."

Actually the staff wages go up in bands so the longer you have been there the more you get, when they shut up shop and start afresh employees are all on the lower bands, so it's cheaper.

Newcastle is a regional centre for health, education, government and the arts.

Newcastle was traditionally a coal mining and ship-building area, These industries are now non-existent.

Ergo, most people in employment up here are employed by the state

I think the figure in Scotland is over 50%.

The point remains that Labour has created an enormous client state of public sector workers. And that they will, if elected, have to cut their numbers. But this won't happen until after the election.

The point is we have outsourced a lot of jobs for cheap labour and closed down an awful lot of factories etc because due to high taxes and living expenses it's too expensive to run an organisation in the UK so they had to do something to keep people employed.
With tax credits topping up 16 hours a week to a full time wage it made a massive difference to local economies.
Better somebody works part time for the state than not at all.
I doubt the numbers will be cut at all even after the election otherwise people will be on benefits which even more expensive.
We cannot have immigration and the cheap labour that comes with it without paying a massive price which is a huge drain on state resources but on the flip side creates a lot of state funded jobs too.
Unfortunately it does mean the lowering of quality of life for everyone, I expect inflation to rise soon, interest rates to rise and taxes to rise because otherwise it'll be Armageddon.

squeaver it is 24% in scotland. which given its relatively low population is fairly acceptable.

it is highest in ni. 30%

not really getting the point of this thread

I live in the south of England and the state is a huge employer here. Just in our road there is hardly anyone who doesn't work in the public sector. Next door is a doctor, next to that a judge, next to that teachers, then more doctors. All the rest are retired. Ds's friends' parents all work in the public sector (surgeon, civil servant, doctor, teachers).

We'll end up like (old) Russia. All the public servants enjoying special holiday resorts and whatnot and all the private sector dross having to live six families to a one-bed apartment and queueing three days for cabbages.

fecking doctors, teaachers etc. off with their heads!

The other 2/3s are on X factor irrc.

"How can we as a Country keep going if most of us are State employees?"

More like, how can we as a country keep going if people interpret "one third" to mean "most" .

And perhaps gramercy could give me the websites of the special holiday resorts that are only available to public sector employees?

"And perhaps gramercy could give me the websites of the special holiday resorts that are only available to public sector employees? "

By next year= Butlins.

Atlantis, any chance of a link to your no doubt carefully researched theory that people in Newcastle are thicker? (I live about as far South as you can get, but I am more than a bit at your comment)

When many civil service jobs were relocated (by the conservative government) they were offered an opportunity to relocate, complete with relocation package. It makes sense for public sector jobs to be moved to areas of high unemployment (more of a choice of employees too, so the workforce is likely to be more highly qualified). It also makes sense to build public sector buildings on cheaper land.

"Atlantis, any chance of a link to your no doubt carefully researched theory that people in Newcastle are thicker?"

Err any chance you could read my post again, i did not say they were thicker.

Well I'm a public sector worker in Newcastle . I live about 2 mins from the absolutely huge government offices here, I think where WickedWench must work, which is also next to one of the city's big hospitals.

I don't think that Newcastle is very representative of the country as a whole and whilst I'm dubious that the reasons for moving some departments to the ne are quite as described by atlantis and I don't think it's a bad thing that such jobs are brought to areas where the traditional industries have vanished.