Public Service (Employment) (Hansard, 3 November 1992)

§ 11. Mr. Cohen
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment what is her estimate of public service jobs at risk over the next year.

§ Mr. Michael Forsyth
It is not possible to make such an estimate.

§ Mr. Cohen
Some people will find that an incredible answer. How many jobs of teachers, of firemen, of health workers and of local government workers do the Government envisage getting rid of? Is the figure 250,000 or 500,000, or more? Will not that make the recession worse? Will not a public sector freeze on pay be vindictive to those workers, who not only do an excellent job but who are not themselves immune from the recession?

§ Mr. Forsyth
For perhaps the first time in my life, I agree with Mr. Rodney Bickerstaffe, who pointed out the relationship of purchasing power to job creation in the marketplace. The hon. Gentleman should know that the higher public expenditure which he advocates can be met 141 only by higher borrowing or by higher taxes. That would result in jobs being destroyed because of higher interest rates, or because people's purchasing power in the marketplace would be reduced.

§ Mr. Peter Bottomley
My hon. Friend referred to wages councils. Have the Government, in their capacity as employers, agreed any pay rates for their employees anything like as low as the hourly rates equivalent to those in wages councils' orders?

§ Mr. Forsyth
As I am sure my hon. Friend, of all people, will recognise, I pointed out that 80 per cent. of wages councils workers were in households with two or more wage earners. My hon. Friend will appreciate the significance of that.