The public sector will destroy what’s left of the UK economy
Matthew Lynn
5 min read
london commuters
A kindergarten class voting for extra ‘break time’ perhaps? Or a crowded pub voting for free beer? There are probably more foregone conclusions we could all think of if we put our minds to it.
And yet when the Welsh government assembled a group of “experts”, consisting of senior public servants, to consider the weighty issue of whether they should all work four days instead five for the same amount, or even more, money, it was hardly a huge surprise that, after carefully considering all the evidence, they decided that on balance it was a great idea.
Even the normally lethal point that it might be “racist” – because four-day weeks might discriminate against “frontline” public sector workers more likely to be from ethnic minorities – couldn’t deter them. In reality, the UK’s already pampered and over-privileged public sector elite is drifting inexorably towards taking Fridays off permanently, and given the vast size of the state has reached as a share of the economy, that will destroy any prospect of economic growth.
With its growing reputation as a laboratory for batty Left-wing ideas, it was always likely to be Wales that took the lead on moving towards a four-day week. Under the leadership of Reg Kilpatrick, who has spent over 25 years working in different roles for the administration in Cardiff, it formed the Workforce Partnership Council to consider whether the country should switch to a four-day week.
The council included those world-leading thinkers in innovation and dynamism such as the trade unions, Unison, the GMB and PCS, plus the Powys, Flintshire and the Vale of Glamorgan councils, as well as Natural Resources Wales, the Hywel Dda University Health Board and the Velindre NHS Trust – all of whom, I can’t help noticing, are either organisations directly paid for by the taxpayer, or else are unions that overwhelmingly represent public sector workers.
Oddly enough, it doesn’t appear there were any major private companies involved nor, heaven forbid, any entrepreneurs trying to get a new business off the ground in Swansea or Wrexham, who might have provided an alternative point of view. The committee did pause to consider some of the drawbacks, such as whether a four-day-week might be discriminatory, or indeed whether it might mean that more staff were needed.
Even so, it concluded those obstacles could be overcome, and it was a fantastic idea: “A four-day work week can improve productivity, employee well-being, and environmental sustainability,” it said. Apparently “reducing work time by 20pc can lead to a 16pc reduction in carbon emissions, as well as lower costs for recruitment, training, and sick leave”, while it can also “enhance work-life balance, gender equality and mental health for employees”.
The council is far from alone in seeking to find ways of reducing work hours. The public sector is moving steadily towards a consensus that even several days a week sitting in front of your Zoom screen is too much. Scotland is already pressing ahead with a trial of reduced hours, launched by the First Minister Humza Yousaf. South Cambridgeshire District Council is trialling a four-day week, despite clear instructions from the Government that it should stop.
Add it all up, and we can all see where this is going. A four-day week will soon be the norm in the public sector. Indeed, the incoming Labour government that now looks inevitable will probably be all in favour of it. The pressure from its grassroots, made up almost entirely of public sector workers, will be too much to resist.
The trouble is, that will be even more damaging to the economy than anyone has yet realised. We have mounting evidence that contrary to the self-interested propaganda, four-day weeks along with working from home – which if we are being honest is often a polite euphemism for reduced hours – severely damage output.
Ever since the pandemic, as hours have been reduced, public sector output has steadily stagnated. And while no one would dispute that sometimes it is better for work-life balance, there is no hard data to show that that makes up for the simple fact that less gets done.
We already have evidence that an over-privileged public sector elite is pulling away from the rest of society. Only this week, the Taxpayers’ Alliance published a damning report revealing that 3,106 town hall officials are now making more than £100,000 a year, with 829 making more than £150,000 over the 2022-23 financial year, and a lucky 175 are now paid more than £200,000.
Even with councils going bankrupt and services falling apart, the people in charge, instead of fixing the problems, simply award themselves bigger and bigger pay rises, arguing that the size of the organisations they run, instead of their effectiveness, justifies the inflated salaries and even more inflated pension packages.
The public sector is now getting paid more and more for doing less and less all the time. The drift towards a four-day week will accelerate that and, even worse, make it permanent. It is simply no longer possible for the economy to support that. In the UK, the state now accounts for a shocking 45pc of GDP, and taxes for 37pc of GDP, while one in six people now work for the public sector, the highest level since 2012.
In the past, the often woeful productivity of the state was made up for by rising output per person in a more innovative private sector. With the Government so huge, that is no longer possible. There is a statistical limit to the amount of heavy-lifting a dwindling private sector can realistically do. In reality, an over-entitled, over-privileged public sector elite has condemned the UK to stagnation – and it is getting worse all the time.
