There are two fundamental problems with the analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies of the current negotiations on public sector pensions. Firstly, the IFS compares public sector pension provision with that of the private sector and implies that the inevitable disparity has to be rebalanced by cutting the public sector rather than improving private sector provision.

Several papers and comentators have noticed the very different path of public sector and private sector wages. Public sector pay is rising three times as quickly as private sector pay. In the private sector many companies are cutting earnings, and in some cases

David Miliband, House of Commons, debate on PFI in the education sector, 2004: The public-private partnerships enable the public sector to use private sector resources to deliver elements of services that the latter, through its skills and expertise, is best placed to provide through a structure in which the private sector puts its capital at risk

Yesterday afternoon the Prime Minister stated that according to the ONS, "average gross pay in the public sector is now higher than in the private sector". But as I have previously argued (and TUC analysis has previously shown) to claim that pay across the public sector is outstripping private sector earnings is simply wrong.

The endless rows over “cuts” at a time when public spending continues to rise in cash terms highlights yet again the totally different approach to public service by the private and public sectors. In 2008-9 many private sector companies faced declines in their revenue of

The Conservatives are maintaining a double-figures lead in the polls. This lead is due to strong support from those of us who work in the private sector: Private sector Conservatives - 45% Labour - 29% Lib Dem - 17% Nothing unusual there then. But what about the public sector? Here there’s a bit of a surprise: Public sector Conservative -38% Labour - 26% Lib

A few write into this site to complain wrongly that I criticise the public sector and praise the public sector. They usually follow it up with some criticism of a private sector company which may be fair or may be sour grapes. A few years

Today in England and Wales, tens of thousands of public sector workers, many of them teachers, are expected to strike. Currently public sector workers largely enjoy more generous pensions than their equivalents in the private sector and the Coalition Government has acknowledged the growing difference in approach between the private and public sectors. The private

At a time when public finances are overstretched, the arrival of private players will shift most of the cost of expanding the number of university places from the public to the private sector

There are two Britains – the public sector and the private sector. Today the Times tries to make out that Councils are about to experience the same bleak prospect for jobs and sackings as private industry and the retail sector, but so far there is no evidence that the public sector faces the same