Politics
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We start with the official count published by the Office for National Statistics. It says that as of Q2 2009, public sector employment totalled 6.039 million, up from the 5.182 million Labour inherited in 1997 - an increase of 17%
However, big though it is, that total excludes a number of groups who are not counted as being employed in the public sector, but who depend on the public sector for the vast bulk of their earnings:
Higher and further education - for arcane historical reasons, H&FE colleges are defined as being in the private sector, even though most of their funding comes from the taxpayer. When last sighted, they were employing some 530,000 staff.
GPs - they are counted as part of the NHS by the Department of Health, but most are excluded from the ONS count because they're technically private contractors. There are currently some 40,000 of them in the UK.
Network Rail - as we've blogged before, Network Rail is nationalised in all but name, but under an extraordinarily convoluted definitional fudge it's counted as part of the private sector. It currently employs 33,000.
Adding these groups back in takes the public sector employment total up to 6.7 million.
And then of course, there are all the people whose jobs have been privatised over the years, but who still work pretty well exclusively for the public sector - ie hospital cleaners, dustmen, IT staff, etc etc. How many? We have no idea, but our guess is at least another quarter million, taking our public sector employment total up to around 7 million.
So, of the 28.9 million people currently in employment, around one-quarter of them are employed by the government (aka the taxpayer).
And of course, there's another huge group of people who while not employed by the government, are still dependent on taxpayers for their incomes.
To start with, there are now 5.8 million people of working age who are entirely dependent on welfare, including 1.4m on Job Seeker's Allowance, 2.6m on incapacity benefits, and 0.7m on lone parent benefits. Actually those figures relate to May, and with increased unemployment, the overall total is now probably 6 million.
Adding them in as well, gives us an overall total of 13 million people dependent on taxpayers for their incomes.
And remember, these are people of working age. If we add in the 12.5 million older people now drawing state pensions, we get to a grand total of 25.5 million - 25.5 million people who are dependent on the taxpayer for most or all of their incomes.
http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-many-people-work-for-government.html
However, big though it is, that total excludes a number of groups who are not counted as being employed in the public sector, but who depend on the public sector for the vast bulk of their earnings:
Higher and further education - for arcane historical reasons, H&FE colleges are defined as being in the private sector, even though most of their funding comes from the taxpayer. When last sighted, they were employing some 530,000 staff.
GPs - they are counted as part of the NHS by the Department of Health, but most are excluded from the ONS count because they're technically private contractors. There are currently some 40,000 of them in the UK.
Network Rail - as we've blogged before, Network Rail is nationalised in all but name, but under an extraordinarily convoluted definitional fudge it's counted as part of the private sector. It currently employs 33,000.
Adding these groups back in takes the public sector employment total up to 6.7 million.
And then of course, there are all the people whose jobs have been privatised over the years, but who still work pretty well exclusively for the public sector - ie hospital cleaners, dustmen, IT staff, etc etc. How many? We have no idea, but our guess is at least another quarter million, taking our public sector employment total up to around 7 million.
So, of the 28.9 million people currently in employment, around one-quarter of them are employed by the government (aka the taxpayer).
And of course, there's another huge group of people who while not employed by the government, are still dependent on taxpayers for their incomes.
To start with, there are now 5.8 million people of working age who are entirely dependent on welfare, including 1.4m on Job Seeker's Allowance, 2.6m on incapacity benefits, and 0.7m on lone parent benefits. Actually those figures relate to May, and with increased unemployment, the overall total is now probably 6 million.
Adding them in as well, gives us an overall total of 13 million people dependent on taxpayers for their incomes.
And remember, these are people of working age. If we add in the 12.5 million older people now drawing state pensions, we get to a grand total of 25.5 million - 25.5 million people who are dependent on the taxpayer for most or all of their incomes.
http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-many-people-work-for-government.html
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Employed or actually work?
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half
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lol flatliner
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and...breathe.......
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we get to a grand total of 25.5 million
who will all be worse off if they vote tory |
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What did Ronald Reagan say were the 9 most frightening words in the english language?
'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'. |
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What did Ronald Reagan say were the 9 most frightening words in the english language?
'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'. except when youre bankers or car manufacturers |
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public sector employment totalled 6.039 million, up from the 5.182 million Labour inherited in 1997 - an increase of 17%
The way the right-wing bloggers whinge, you'd think the figure was nearer 17,000%.... :0 Silly piece, btw - since when are jobseekers 'working' for the government? |
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Actually everybody who is employed by somebody else is working for the taxpayer as are most self-employed. The people who shop at Tescos are the same people who pay taxes.
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Indeed, Salmon, and much of the spending that is done at Tesco comes indirectly from the govt in the first place, via benefits, redistribution, bank bailouts, guarantees etc.
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it wasnt always this way though. only since they started to control the entire financial system.ontrol the money means control everything. they made you government employees when you took your "national insurance" number.
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oh for gods sake
dont get the left onto economics because they talk the biggest load of bollux, its impossible to have an adult conversation. |
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Keep going round in circles and we are all living of the fruits of Empire,about time we came down to earth and saw a reduced standard of living. Oooooooops,it has just happened !
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