Half of all new jobs are for the State

ALMOST half the jobs created since Labour came to power have been in the public sector, a study has shown. One in four UK employees now works for the State - many of them pen pushers rather than doctors or teachers.

According to the study by City firm Williams de Broe, based on official labour market figures, 861,231 new jobs were created in the public sector between summer 1997 and autumn 2004. The total of new jons created under Labour is likely to top the million mark within a year.

The study casts doubt on Gordon Brown's pledge to save taxpayers' money by culling tens of thousands of civil servants.

A surge in State sector jobs could damage economic growth and place an even larger burden on public sector pension liabilities which already total £690bn - more than the national debt.

Overall, the public sector workforce has risen from 6.04m to 6.9m under Labour - an increase of 14.2%. Yet over the same period, total employment in Britain has increased by only 7.2%, up 1.908m from 26.633m to 28.541m.

This means the recruitment of public sector posts has been at twice the rate of jobs overall. Only a fraction of the new employees were extra nurses, doctors, teachers and other frontline staff.

Three-quarters of the new workers were women - one in three women workers is now in the public sector.