Extra 700,000 public sector employees since the Referendum – what are they doing?
We also ask : “Why is the public sector growing over twice as fast as the private sector?”
Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2024
Facts4EU’s analysis reveals which economic sectors all these new public employees are engaged in
On Tuesday (05 Nov 2024) we showed that the overall number of employees in the UK has grown by 2.1 million since the UK’s EU Referendum, despite all the Government and Remainer forecasts of massive job losses if the British people voted to leave the EU.
In this Part II today, we reveal how the public sector has grown at over twice the rate of the private sector. We also look at what all these new employees are doing.
Myth-buster – These new public sector workers have NOT been employed to deal with Brexit
Below we show the results of our analysis of the sectors which public sector employees are working in.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
Analysis of the public sector, 2023
1. The private/public sector split, 2023
The overall split between private and public sector employees is shown below. The proportion of public sector workers has been increasing, as we we show further down.
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2024 - click to enlarge
2. The growth rates of employees in the private sector versus the public sector
One of the stand-out facts from our analysis is the highly significant difference between the growth in numbers of employees in the last eight years, when comparing the private sector to the public sector.
The majority of new employees are employed in the private sector, by a ratio of 2:1. That said, the growth rate in the public sector is double that of the private sector. The overall proportion of private to public has been changing - in a negative direction.
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2024 - click to enlarge
The Rt Hon Sir John Redwood, former Secretary of State, commented on our report
“The civil service and administrative numbers in the main public services and public bodies have expanded hugely in the last eight years. At the same time the state has spent large sums on new computing systems which replace personal service with on line and automated responses to the public. Productivity has plunged, driving up costs and the taxes to pay for them. The new government says it is going to tackle poor productivity. How and when? It should start with a recruitment freeze on admin staff, letting numbers decline as people retire and leave.”
- The Rt Hon Sir John Redwood, 06 Nov 2024
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Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary
Analysis of the public sector, 2023 - Continued
3. Total numbers and industry sectors of public sector workers, 2023
- Health : 2,079,500
- Education : 1,606,100
- Public Administration : 1,460,900
- Transport & Storage (inc Postal) : 148,200
- Other : 100,800
- Business Administration and Support Services : 97,800
- Professional, Scientific & Technical : 65,400
- Finance & Insurance : 50,400
- Mining, Quarrying & Utilities : 35,900
- Construction : 31,300
- Information & Communication : 27,500
- Manufacturing : 22,900
- Property : 20,700
- Accommodation & Food Services : 14,300
- Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing : 2,700
- Motor Trades : 2,500
- Wholesale : 1,900
- Retail : 1,700
TOTAL : 5,770,500
[Source: ONS BRES survey Nov 2024.]
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2024 - click to enlarge
4. NEW public sector workers since 2016 by industry sector – breakdown of the increases
- Health : 278,700
- Public Administration : 218,100
- Education : 118,500
- Transport & Storage (inc Postal) : 52,200
- Business Administration and Support Services : 28,000
- Professional, Scientific & Technical : 13,500
- Manufacturing : 3,800
- Mining, Quarrying & Utilities : 2,900
- Property : 600
- Motor Trades : 300
- Construction : -200
- Retail : -300
- Wholesale : -600
- Information & Communication : -800
- Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing : -1,100
- Accommodation & Food Services : -3,200
- Other : -7,500
- Finance & Insurance : -7,900
TOTAL : 695,000
[Source: ONS BRES survey Nov 2024.]
© Brexit Facts4EU.Org 2024 - click to enlarge
Observations
As ever, the Facts4EU.Org team dived into the latest, raw, official data that lay behind the report released by the Office for National Statistics on Monday. It is only by analysis like this that we are able to bring readers some insights which are simply not available in the mainstream media.
In this case we discovered an interesting trend. The increase in the number of public sector employees in the last eight years is more than double that of the increase in private sector employees.
We were also able to look in some detail at this increase in the public sector, and it is clear that the bulk of it comes from health, education, and 'public administration'.
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[ Sources: Office for National Statistics, BRES survey ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.
Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Wed 06 Nov 2024
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