Project title: “An examination of Public/Private sector pay difference’.

Swansea University’s School of Business and Economics, supported by the ESRC Doctoral Training Centre for Wales (Wales DTC) is offering a fully-funded PhD Studentship in Economics starting in September 2012.

Swansea is part of the £4.8 million WISERD Research Centre funded by the ESRC and HEFCW. The centre, led by Cardiff University, involves academics from Swansea, Aberystwyth, Bangor and Glamorgan.

The studentship provides funding (tuition fees and maintenance) for up to 3.5 years.

PhD Project details:

This fully-funded project will focus on an examination of the public/private sector pay differential in the UK

The importance of public sector pay for public sector finances has grown in importance as the size of the public sector has increased. The cost of financing the public sector wage bill has important implications for fiscal policy, either being financed through taxation or borrowing. The recent recession and accompanying public sector deficit again brought to the forefront issues surrounding the size of public sector and the pay of public sector workers. 

In 2009 the public sector accounted for 21% of total employment, with the wage bill accounting for 30% of all government expenditure. The desire to ‘rebalance’ the UK economy away from the public sector and towards the private sector is seen as a high priority by the Government as outlined in its Plan for Growth (2011).

This is a particularly important issue for Wales as a relatively high proportion of its workforce is in the public sector and a number of the most deprived areas are particularly dependant on public sector employment.   

Project aims:

1. Examine the size of the public/private sector pay differential over time at a UK and a regional/local level.
2. Understand the implications for Wales of a decline in the size of the public sector.
3. Analyse the role of the public sector in contributing to labour market rigidities and inflexibility in the economy generally. 

This is a joint project between Swansea and Cardiff University under the supervision of Professor David Blackaby (Swansea), Dr Nigel O’Leary (Swansea), Professor Gerry Makepeace (Cardiff) and Professor Philip Murphy (Swansea).

Funding:  The studentship will cover tuition fees and maintenance grant in the region £16,590 p.a. (£3,000 p.a. above the standard rate). The duration of the studentship is up to 3.5 years.

Supervision:  The successful candidate will be supervised by Professor David Blackaby, Professor Philip Murphy and Dr Nigel O’Leary at Swansea University and Professor Gerry Makepeace at Cardiff University.

Eligibility criteria:

• A Master’s degree in Economics, with a strong quantitative background
• Students from the UK, EU and overseas are eligible to apply 

How to apply:  Candidates should submit a CV and a covering letter outlining their suitability for the project to: Mary Perman, School of Business and Economics, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP.

Email: ecadmin@swansea.ac.uk 

Application Closing Date: 16^th April 2012

For further information contact:

David Blackaby: D.H.Blackaby@swansea.ac.uk

 Philip Murphy: P.D.Murphy@swansea.ac.uk

Nigel O’Leary: N.C.Oleary@swansea.ac.uk