The suggestion that the average public-sector wage should be reduced to the average of all workers, put forward in your issue of 31 October, undermined whatever credibility the feature in question had. The main reason for the difference in wages in the public and private sectors is their very different occupational compositions.

According to CSO data, 46% of public-sector workers are in professional and technical occupations compared with just 14% of private-sector workers. Forty per cent of public-sector workers have a third-level degree, twice the proportion for the private sector. Reducing average public-sector wages to those of the private sector would involve paying professional and technical workers in the public sector much less than they are paid in the private sector. It should be obvious why this is not an option.

Proinnsias Breathnach

Maynooth

Co Kildare