The Editorial in today's Dominion Post looks at National's plan to cap core public service positions (the scalpel not an axe terminology rings some bells to us). It thinks that this is a good thing - if handled with care. Meanwhile Vernon Small has an article about wage growth pressures in the public service.
The public service wage bill will increase by $800 million during the next five years on current trends, according to Treasury and State Services Commission figures.
A report on public sector pay pressures, issued under the Official Information Act, shows that in the year to last June, the size of the core public sector rose by 5 per cent, or 2,067 people, to about 42,000.
The average wage was also up 5 per cent at $56,619, leading to an overall 10 per cent increase in the wage bill. That raised the wage bill $216 million for the year to June 2007. If the same trend continued the payroll would rise $800 million to almost $4 billion by 2012.
