Public v private sector - Growing pay gap is unfair
Over the past four years weekly private sector earnings have fallen by 0.5%, whereas those in the public sector have increased by 2.8%.
This is clearly unbalanced and grossly unfair. The public service was already earning considerably more than private sector workers.
Average private sector earnings for the first three months of 2012 was €611.66 a week, which was down 1.9% on the previous three months. This compares with €919.99 in the public service, which was up slightly on the previous three months.
The number of public sector workers has dropped by almost 26,000 in the last year, but this is small compared to job losses in the private sector. There is no comparison in the degree of job security in the two sectors. Economic cutbacks have enormous implications for earnings in the private sector, while workers in the public service are receiving incremental pay increases. Talk about sharing the burden equally seems to be so much empty blather.
