The public sector took on 285,000 more staff in the year to March, even as the private sector cut nearly 683,000 jobs, a startling demonstration of the impact of nationalising the banks on the public purse. Government data on employment has counted staff at Northern Rock, Bradford & Bingley, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group as public sector workers since the banks were reclassified as public corporations. RBS and Lloyds alone boosted public sector employment by a staggering 230,000 in the last quarter of 2008. The figures also show the public sector bulking up because of increasing demand for its services during the downturn, in Jobcentres for example.
The Telegraph