Should pay of Private Sector be capped to match Public sector?

Hey all, I will be debating the motion

'This house would cap the pay of Teacher and Medical Health Professionals working in the private sector to a level comparable to that of the Public Sector'

In a debate soon, and will be OPPOSING the motion.

I thought it would be interesting for all of us to share ideas from both sides of the argument and help me finalise my argument! Economics etc are SO not my forte but I really enjoy politics so I thought it would be interesting to throw it to the most politically active community I can think of...you!

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Reply 1

KimKallstrom

A race to the bottom is exactly what we need.

Honestly, some people would rather everyone starve to death instead of some doing better than others.

Reply 2

Katie_p

Errrr the whole point of the private sector is that it's private is that pay should be determined privately not set by public officials.

I don't understand how the other side can even debate this. You win. Automatically.

Reply 3

PrincessBlessing

I feel exactly the same, government interference in the private sector goes against all the whole point of the private sector! But it can be argued that in the same profession people should earn the same.

But then again, capitalism baby...there's a reason why we have competitive markets!

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Reply 4

pane123

Original post by Katie_p

A very, very strange debate that I would love to see :lol:

Reply 5

pane123

Original post by PrincessBlessing

A huge number of private sector jobs have a public sector equivalent. Unless the other side is suggesting that we switch to communism then I don't understand what they can possibly argue.

Reply 6

AdampskiB

The only positive would be that those who work in private sector will have an equal thought for working in the public sector, as salary wouldn't be an incentive to go one way as opposed to the other. This might influence better quality of service in the public sector, whilst removing the benefit of private sector talent/service/business.

Other than that, it's a no brainer. As Kevin Bacon would say :P

Reply 7

PrincessBlessing

Original post by AdampskiB

Then after doing my research I found that the only instance where private sector wages were significantly higher than public sector is in the top 90th percentile, so top doctors, surgeons, head teachers etc. So then I don't understand how capping the pay of private sector workers would help balance that, allowing public sector to emulate private through localised bargaining schemes were wages are determined independently and selectively would help.

Oh what a strange debate...

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Reply 8

A Mysterious Lord

It's the taxes raised by higher pay in the private sector that pay the public sector wages, so no.

Reply 9

CEKTOP

What's the point of capping private sector's salaries? It would still attract all the top professionals due to better infrastructure and environment.

Reply 10

PrincessBlessing

Original post by A Mysterious Lord

It's the taxes raised by higher pay in the private sector that pay the public sector wages, so no.

Do you have any further information on that?

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Reply 11

AdampskiB

Original post by PrincessBlessing

Well that's typically where the private and public sectors have similar relationships, isn't it? What other jobs can you compare private vs. public?

Interesting debate indeed!

Reply 12

Over2you

Private and Public sector both serve different purposes, and as such both have different incentives. Trying to harmonise the two is quite frankly impossible, IMO. Tbh, I think that should be the main premise of your argument. It's like the levelling argument that private schools should be banned.

Reply 13

joey11223

Original post by PrincessBlessing

Do you have any further information on that?

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What do you mean? Public sector jobs have salaries paid by government, government gets its money from taxation, private sector is source of tax, people with very high salaries pay a lot of tax, government uses the money to pay salaries...round we go.

Though as said, I was under the impression that for low to mid salary jobs, the public sector can be more generous, think it's more once you're in the top jobs the private sector can pay more, but that's up to them obviously.

Reply 14

A proud Mexican

I happen to be proposing this motion and the bearded Marxist approach is the best I can muster, best of luck to you

Reply 15

MagicNMedicine

Original post by joey11223

Though as said, I was under the impression that for low to mid salary jobs, the public sector can be more generous, think it's more once you're in the top jobs the private sector can pay more, but that's up to them obviously.

A lot of the public sector jobs at the lower end of the pay scale have gone in to the private sector because as part of cuts these tend to be contracted out: cleaners, canteen staff etc go to private firms. This has also started in admin functions as well with moves towards shared services for finance, HR and so on.

So people often get a misleading impression when they hear stories in the paper that public sector pays better......transferring those at the bottom of the pay scale across to the other sector makes the average look higher but doesn't mean people in like for like jobs are being paid more.

If it was really true that everyone in the public sector was onto a good cushy number like many like to suggest then surely that would mean all the best people worked in the public sector where they were attracted by the better pay and conditions, leaving the second raters to work in the private sector.

Reply 16

PrincessBlessing

Original post by A proud Mexican

I happen to be proposing this motion and the bearded Marxist approach is the best I can muster, best of luck to you

Hahah!! Excellent! Well my partner and I were laughing at how it would basically be Marx vs some serious capitalism

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Reply 17

Tinder

Original post by PrincessBlessing

The irony of your debate is that usually people in the public sector get paid more nowadays with huge cushy benefits and pensions after New Labour's megastate initiative and the state became more than half of the economy?

Yet were still bleeding on about reshaping the productive economy in the image of unproductive economy? (Not all of the state is unproductive e.g. Many parts of the NHS) Why?

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