Over the past few years, Labour's spending splurge has made the public sector the place to work. Since 2000, employment has grown by 10% compared with 2% in the private sector. Earnings have risen by 25% compared with 20% in the private sector, according to official figures released on September 14th. But pay is a modest draw compared with the lure of pensions. For one thing, final-salary schemes, which provide benefits linked to end-of-career earnings and years of service, are still open to new employees in the public sector. By contrast, there has been a wave of closures by private employers.
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