Public sector pay overtakes private sector wages

Public sector pay overtakes private sector wages

Public sector pay overtakes private sector wages

People working in the public sector are now earning more money than their private sector counterparts, according to new research by The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

Over the past four years public sector employees have had larger salary rises than those in the private sector – opening up a 17 per cent hourly pay gap, the CIPD report states.

CIPD chief economist John Philpott said the stereotype of the badly paid public sector worker was no longer accurate.

“If one compares the median worker in both the private and public sectors for instance, the public sector worker is better off by £12 a week,” he said.

The CIPD suggests that since 2001 the public sector has also been the main source of growth in employment in the UK – with 75,000 posts being created in the last 12 months.