Umbrella company contractors may be interested to learn that public sector pay has risen at a faster rate than it has in the private sector.
The gap between equivalent employees’ hourly pay rate now stands at more than 30%, according the Policy Exchange, the centre-right think tank. Public sector employees are enjoying increased salaries while their private sector counterparts are seeing their standard of living decline dramatically.
However, Brendan Barber, the general secretary of the TUC, said employees in both sectors are having an awful time and this report was designed to create divisions between workers. He pointed out that public sector employees face a salary freeze, redundancies and have seen their pension values cut by 25%.
The think tank report claimed that a typical public sector employee can expect to receive 20% more than a private sector worker in the North East and North West, Scotland and Wales.
The question of salary is just one of the problems facing public sector workers who hope to transition to the private sector. 330,000 public sector workers are likely to be made redundant as part of the government spending cuts and they will face a number of challenges.
The REC believes that recruiters could have a major role to play in making the transition painless for both employee and employer.
Hayes and the London Chamber of Commerce have produced a report recommending that the government should offer incentives, such as subsidies for training, to employers who hire employees from the public sector.
The report goes on to suggest that recruiters and LEPs should work with professional membership bodies and Trade Associations to identify future skills shortages and look for ways that ex-public sector workers can fill the gaps. Public sector organisations should also take a proactive role in supporting workers who face redundancy, by providing practical advice and programmes designed to prepare them for life in the private sector.
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