April 19, 2004
“But you killed all those jobs!”
This is fascinating, on governmental reform in New Zealand:
...When we started this process with the Department of Transportation, it had 5,600 employees. When we finished, it had 53. When we started with the Forest Service, it had 17,000 employees. When we finished, it had 17. When we applied it to the Ministry of Works, it had 28,000 employees. I used to be Minister of Works, and ended up being the only employee. In the latter case, most of what the department did was construction and engineering, and there are plenty of people who can do that without government involvement. And if you say to me, “But you killed all those jobs!” – well, that’s just not true. The government stopped employing people in those jobs, but the need for the jobs didn’t disappear. I visited some of the forestry workers some months after they’d lost their government jobs, and they were quite happy. They told me that they were now earning about three times what they used to earn – on top of which, they were surprised to learn that they could do about 60 percent more than they used to! The same lesson applies to the other jobs I mentioned...(via BrothersJudd Blog)You Big Government lovers ought to stop bitching about Bush. Things could be much worse for you...
Actually, the article is so amazing, I'm wondering if it's true! Maybe it's a utopian fantasy...anybody know? I should Google it, but I'm feeling lazy...
Posted by John Weidner at April 19, 2004 01:46 PM | TrackBackCan we hire this guy for the US Federal Government? Please?
Posted by: B. Durbin at April 19, 2004 02:47 PMI presume that the jobs are still being paid for by the government. (even if they have been moved to the private sector, I presume that the government is using private contractors.) From what it sounds like, the government is then paying at least 300 percent more (“earning about three times what they used to earn”), but only getting 160% of the work done. (“they could do about 60% more than they used to”). So that sounds like government inefficiency to me...
Posted by: Andrew Cory at April 19, 2004 06:44 PMProbably the contractor just hired the best workers. And they can lay people off or shift them to other jobs when the contract work is done.
And if the gov really is overpaying, other companies will likely be attracted for that reason, and underbid the first company on the next contract.
Even if no money is saved, shifting resources to the private sector yields enormous benefits. If you find a stagnant economy you almost always also find a bloated public sector.
this gells with nothing I know about New Zealand. It's a socialist paradise in the final stages of economic collapse, most NZ business people I know are fleeing to Australia.
Posted by: Amos at April 24, 2004 07:55 PM
