The Treasury forecasts 490,000 public job losses as a result of this month's budget measures. But the Office for Budget Responsibility reckons that 1.8m jobs will be created in the private sector.
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Between 1994 and 1999, Canada, Sweden and the UK each tightened fiscal policy by about 7% of GDP. That made public-sector employment fall by 50,000 in Canada and Sweden, and 294,000 in the UK – but private-sector employment grew by 1.7m in Canada, 250,000 in Sweden and 1.95m in the UK.
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According to the Office of National Statistics, 308,000 private-sector jobs were created over the summer, more than offsetting the 22,000 that were lost from public-sector bodies.