Public sector employment swells to highest level in 14 years
Public sector employment has surged to the highest level in 14 years as Rachel Reeves prepares to unveil a £300bn spending spree this week.
Almost 6.2m people were employed in the public sector in March, official figures show, 35,000 more than a year earlier. This is the highest number of public sector employees since December 2011.
The figures from the Office for National Statistics came ahead of Ms Reeves's spending review on Wednesday, which is expected to offer big increases to defence and health while squeezing other departments.
The Chancellor has raised departmental spending by nearly £400bn since Labour won the election. It comes as economists have warned more tax rises are 'inevitable' in autumn.
The figures from the ONS also show that the number of civil servants is the highest since 2006, at 550,000, rising by 6,000 from a year earlier.
This helped to push the total figure of central government workers to a record high of 4m, up by 93,000 from a year ago.
The ONS said the rise was driven by the NHS, the Civil Service and some local authority schools becoming academies, which changes how their staff are classified in the numbers.
While public sector hiring surged, the jobs downturn across the economy deepened as firms grappled with big tax and minimum wage hikes.
The number of vacancies fell from 760,000 on average across February to April to 736,000 for the three months to May.
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