Does the public workers have better salary and Job conditions than private sector?

18 comments

1. The historic wisdom would be that public sector workers took a worse salary, but better condition, job security and benefits. With the erosion of the public sector over the last decade or so, I’m not sure this is the case as much.

2. No they don’t, and yes they can be fired.

3. I’m public sector and most of my private sector friends make more than me. Some by 3 or 4 times.

   But jobs vary so much, I don’t think it’s really possible to compare. There are *so* many jobs within the public and private sector that I don’t think they can be meaningfully compared in such blanket terms.

4. When I worked for the civil service, my salary was about half of the private sector. I had slightly more annual leave, better sick pay and a much better pension, but everything else was worse.

5. I think I make less in the public sector for a comparable job in the private sector, or at least one with the level of responsibility I have. But my benefits are much better, I get much more holiday, a really good pension, good sickness/absence policy, excellent maternity leave and benefits.

   Not sure about job security. In my experience it’s very difficult to get fired, I’ve known of colleagues found guilty of gross misconduct and they still keep their jobs or just get moved to another department. But redundancies can happen in the public sector as much as anywhere else, and there’s a whole lot of fixed term contracts in my sector which can easily not be renewed.

6. Slightly better pensions, but only slightly. Often more holiday time too. That’s about it.

7. Salary usually worse but often better pension and conditions in the public sector.

   It’s not a guarantee though and will depend on specifics like industry and area.

8. It depends on which part of the salary distribution you look at. For example, the median salary for full time employees in the public sector is £34035 vs £30174 for the public sector. But the 90th percentile (i.e top 10% salary) is £55177 for the public sector and £65k for the private sector.

   Public sector pays more for their low-to-medium paying positions while the private sector has the lowest paying jobs (most minimum wage jobs are private sector) but also the highest paying jobs (almost all of the £100k+ jobs will be private sector).

9. Don’t take my word for it, but I belive I saw a chart several months back saying that public sector workers make on average £10k less than private sector workers.

   Obviously this is skewed as the private sector may have CEOs on millions per year but obviously nothing similar in the public sector.

10. No, they don’t.

11. Its hard because public sector jobs vary massively.

    So I would split it into two.

    1) general skills.

    2) niche skills.

    General skills and the public sector will pay similar if not slightly more all things considered.

    Niche skills that have a value to private sector and private sector will pay more.

    You can have niche skills that have no or little value to the private sector, like police, nursing, teaching. They will typically pay less than what the private market would pay if there was a need, but there isn’t a need.

12. It’s just too wide a question to give a definitive answer. I worked in the civil service for 2 years, then local government for 3 years, then private sector for 8 years and back to civil service for the last 4 (well, sort of, it’s complicated).

    The simplified observation would be that for jobs earning less than £30k the civil service will often match (or better) private sector pay and often requires fewer overall hours, less shitty management, more holidays/better sick pay and more protection. However, these jobs might not offer the same opportunities as the private sector in terms of personal development and progression. Like I said, that’s a gross simplification.

    For jobs over £30k, it is my experience that you can get much better pay in the private sector as long as you are willing to accept the pressures that are placed on you in terms of working-life balance. The difference accelerates quite a bit once you get past £40k – in my old field of HR there are jobs that pay about £40k in the civil service that would pay £80k in the private.

    I’m currently looking for new work as a Data Scientist. I am interviewing for public sector roles on around £35-40k as I want to specifically work in an environment focused on the public good. Right now – I probably wouldn’t get an equivalent private sector role (for reasons), but after a year in the public sector I would probably have the option to move to a £65-75k a year private sector job.

13. Better pensions.

14. No not really. The private sector can afford to attract the best people, so often the public sector is worse pay and not the best people either

15. Lower pay, but public sector get much better benefits, pension contributions, annual leave, maternity/paternity leave and job security

16. Some public sector jobs don’t exist at all in the private sector because the employee is representing the local authority in the exercise of statutory functions that the private sector doesn’t have the legal mandate to use.

17. I worked half my time in the private sector and half in the public sector.

    Private sector; more pay, better pension, company car, bonuses, share scheme, other perks.

    Public sector, more job security.

    My private sector pension is 220% that of my public sector pension.

18. I think the public sector attracts the unlucky and un ambitious people. Tend to get people in cushy jobs who just plateau. It would drive some people mental sitting there doing absolutely nothing wishing your life away just to collect a pension at the end of it all but I suppose it’s better then nothing.