Reply to: The World's 3rd Largest Employer...

[Paddy]

It would be easier to report parts of the road without potholes.

[NickFitz]

Lokoing how badly they manage holes in the road, street lighting and other basic things we expect from them I am sure this will be a little out of their league! lol

http://www.fixmystreet.com/

It works pretty well

[NickFitz]

Unsustainable - it has to change but how?

Ooh! Ooh! Sir, I know, pick me sir!

Simple: get rid of a load of public sector employees and replace them with contractors who cost more and are themselves put in place by the big consultancy firms that charge even more on top of that

Of course that would end up being more expensive than keeping the original people on

There's something that always confuses me: why is it that a company employing one or two people when it starts and growing to perhaps thirty employees in its first year can, during that year, successfully provide a reliable online service to many millions of people across the globe - yet the big consultancy firms, charging many millions of pounds and employing/subcontracting hundreds of supposedly competent techies, can't get even the most basic five-page web application working reliably for a small proportion of the UK population after three to six years of extortionately expensive effort?

[SueEllen]

Lokoing how badly they manage holes in the road, street lighting and other basic things we expect from them I am sure this will be a little out of their league! lol

That's local government - different from public sector.

The NHS is also different like the police and fire service.

Well according to people who work in the relevant sectors.

I think they describe themselves due to the pensions they get so MPs get the best pensions while local government workers who aren't teachers or the chief exec types get the worse ones.

[Waldorf]

I can't see why the public sector could easily drop around 200,000 posts -for all the extra spending, up 70% in 13 years - the public services do not seem to be 70% better.

[TimberWolf]

I thought it was; public sector pensions are greater than the GDP of China.

I suspect I dug that little badly remembered gem from QI, but I am unsure about it. And it might have been percentage of something or other rather than absolute numbers.

[oversteer]

According to Wikipedia - Total Chinese Army is 7,024,000

However, as this is a friendly discussion I don't mind reading other points of view.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle1050197.ece

Only the Chinese Army and the Indian State Railways are believed to employ more people — with 2.3 million and 1.5 million staff respectively

Looks like Wikipedia includes the paramilitary "People's Armed Police"

What DID catch my eye was

Available for military service:
654,229,201 males, age 16–49 (2009 est.),
429,058,000 females, age 16–49 (2009 est.)

[Churchill]

Actually the UK Public sector employs more people (5.4m) than both the Indian Railways and Chinese Army... combined

According to Wikipedia - Total Chinese Army is 7,024,000

However, as this is a friendly discussion I don't mind reading other points of view.

[Paddy]

And I thought the UK's public sector was larger than China's.

I thought it was; public sector pensions are greater than the GDP of China.

[northernladuk]

Shall we invade China based on these figures ?? The old imperial England back at its very best !

Lokoing how badly they manage holes in the road, street lighting and other basic things we expect from them I am sure this will be a little out of their league! lol

[Platypus]

The British Public Sector is 3rd only to the Indian State Railway and the Chinese Army in number of employees!

Other recent news: George W. Bush running for President

[sasguru]

Shall we invade China based on these figures ?? The old imperial England back at its very best !

Nah last time we fought China (in Korea) it was a draw.
They're stronger now.

[fullyautomatix]

Actually the UK Public sector employs more people (5.4m) than both the Indian Railways and Chinese Army... combined

Shall we invade China based on these figures ?? The old imperial England back at its very best !

[fullyautomatix]

The NHS on its website boasts that it is the 3rd largest public sector employer in the world.
As for the UK's generally bloated public sector - perhaps its essential to maintain that in a post-industrial society for the sake of social cohesion.
After all what are all those people going to do? they can't got to factories to make things since we don't do that anymore.

They could sit at home and drink lager and watch daytime telly.

Instead they sit in plush offices calling themselves as Managers, pay themselves 60K a year and create rules and regulations all day.

[oversteer]

Actually the UK Public sector employs more people (5.4m) than both the Indian Railways and Chinese Army... combined