April 23, 2018
The NYT had a very good article on the deterioration of the quality of public sector jobs over the last two decades. The piece notes the decline in pay and benefits for teachers, prison guards, and a wide variety of other public sector workers. As a result, many workers are leaving the public sector and vacancies are often left unfilled.
At one point the piece comments:
“Short of money, many states have also privatized services like managing public water systems, road repair, emergency services or prisons, transferring jobs from the public sector to private companies that have reduced salaries and benefits to increase their profits.”
While saving money is usually given as a motive for privatization, it often does not result in savings. The politicians who push privatization often receive campaign contributions from the companies that stand to profit. In such cases, it is at least as likely that they are acting out of a desire to pay back political benefactors as a desire to save money.
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