The lack of intent with government spending.
One powerful indicator of the government’s true intent with reigning in the way they spend taxpayer’s income is the size of the Public Sector workforce.
For the second successive quarter the size of the Public Sector grew. For Full Time Equivalents (FTE’s) at March 31st the number was 63,238. There have been some fluctuations, but this is above the June 2023 figure.
As Cameron Bagrie stated to Mike Hosking last week:
“Government personnel spending in [the March quarter] has also increased by 3.1%.
He says that the big change in the fiscal stance, the tightening of the reins, have not been seen yet, and the question is if it will really be delivered.”
In my main area of interest, the incredibly ineffective Ministry of Education remains hugely bloated at nearly 3,900 FTEs and heading nowhere near the promised reduction to 2,700. Programmes for students get cut but not bureaucrat numbers.
Public sector incomes are well above those in the private sector.
“The average ordinary time hourly earnings in the private sector was $40.39 compared to $50.65 in the public sector.”
In terms of the effects of the economy – this is a case of the horse riding the jockey (into the ground) – and it shows the coalition government has little real intent to reign in the size of the public sector & deficits.
Alwyn Poole
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alwynpoole.substack.com