In Canada’s national news magazine, a timely article about the war for workers, a major theme of Fearful Symmetry. Still, it is surprising to see something like this in a current affairs publication given current media preoccupation with the temporary loss of work due to the recession. Anybody who has studied the demographics knows, however, that labour markets will tighten until the pips squeak, starting in 2011.
I was particularly pleased to see Maclean’s focus on the war that will take place between the public and the private sector for works. As the authors of this piece suggest, one of the great attractions of the public sector these days is the rich benefits, and especially the retirement benefits, they make available to their employees. These benefits are far beyond what the average private sector worker or company can afford, and yet it is the taxes on that productive sector of the economy that makes these extravagant benefits possible.
Yes, there will be a war for workers and for talent when the labour shortages start to bite after 2011, but the mother of all political battles looms over whether the rest of us are prepared to keep paying for outsized pay and benefit packages for the privileged minority in the public sector. Public sector employees retire much earlier than the rest of us, and enjoy a better retirement income, blunting the incentive for them to keep working. The political tensions and resentments will be extreme when those of us who have to keep working past normal retirement age come home at the end of the day and see the retired teacher or civil servant next door with their feet up enjoying the rich pension paid for by our taxes. The figures about what all this will look like are all laid out in Fearful Symmetry.
I think politicians are quite wrong when they fear saying to people that they may have to work longer. The benefits of doing so are significant, including longer life, better health, higher income, a sense of engagement and productivity. But what will make it a real hard sell is the rank unfairness of expecting only provate sector workers to change their retirement expectations. One of the great political battles of the next generation will turn on this issue.
