The total reward for public sector workers is greater than their counterparts in the private sector, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
However, this is only true when only those workers with pension provisions are taken into account, otherwise the opposite is the case.
September’s Economic and Labour Market Review, published by ONS, uses data that views total reward as earnings received now plus earnings that will be paid as a pension on retirement.
This revealed that all full-time public sector employees earn an average of £539 a week, compared to £465 for private sector workers.
When their pension provision is factored in, public sector employees earn £615 a week, and private sector £479.
ONS states that because more than half of private sector employees do not have a pension compared with only a tenth in the public sector, it is difficult to compare total reward.
For full-time employees with pension contributions, total reward in the private sector is higher at £666 a week compared to £644 in the public sector.
Sarah Levy, one of report’s authors at the ONS, said: “For some time, people have been talking about differences in pay and pensions between the private and public sectors.
“This article provides hard evidence from a major UK survey.”
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