Freelance contractors working within the private sector are worse off than those on public sector contracts according to new figures released by the Office of National Statistics.
The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings show that the average take home pay in the public sector rose by 3.1% in the third quarter of 2009, giving an average wage of £539 per week.
Private sector earnings on the other hand rose by a mere 1% to give an average weekly wage of £465. Public sector workers are also seeing a rise in opportunities. During the second quarter employment rose by 13,000 to over 6 million whilst private sector employment dropped by 230,000.
However, this may not be the right time to rush for a job in the public sector. The Institute of Employment Studies (IES) believes that pay within the public sector is set to decrease.
Duncan Brown, Director of reward services at the IES, Duncan Brown commented: " Private sector pay is rapidly going to escalate back up to three per cent, but in the public sector you're going to see the reverse.
"Clearly now the government is serious about freezing pay in the public sector. You're going to see that, very evidently, with some very different effects to the private sector - there's been remarkably little industrial action in the private sector, whereas in the public sector you've got stronger unions."
In fact all three of the main political parties are committed to cutting public sector expenditure. The method by which they propose to achieve this will probably form an important part of their election manifestos. Regardless of whether it's by reducing the public sector headcount or by cutting salaries, you can be sure that changes are in the offing.
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