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And quite large sections of the private sector from well before 2010.
After joining EDS in 2001 (absorbed by HP in 2009) my earnings in real terms gradually declined year on year. The ONLY way to get a decent pay rise out of them was to leave for a year then rejoin on a higher salary.

Having worked in senior roles in both in the Private and Public sectors, I can assure you the pay ceilings that exist in the Public sector are equally prevalent in the private sector for many employees.

The one really big difference with the Public Sector, in particular the Civil Service and NHS is that once you become established that is permanent employee status (usually takes upto 2 years it varies) rarely are people fired from the service, its basically a good pensionable job for life unless you really do something really bloody awful.

Graham, its interesting you mention EDS who were very active in outsourcing of Public Sector services particularly around IT systems development and delivery. In any outsourcing there is what is known as a Staff Agreement which sets the framework for the transferred staff usually Civil Servants to ensure their employment terms etc are protected, however many of the outsourced government services contracts have an cost reduction/ efficiency requirement. Which if in place can in some cases .actually remove certain rights to eg appeal to Industrial Tribunal in cases of redundancy bought about by cost efficiency. EDS in my experience was typically American in their approach to staff rights and working conditions etc.

When it comes the the worth of further education, for example, my niece who has a PHD and as a result didn't enter the work force until she was 28 has found she could earn more as a dog groomer than in roles suited to her qualifications. She now has a very successful dog grooming business and lots of student debt for which she will see no improvement./opportunities in her chosen field.

I was a little spoiled working in the private sector. My salary 20 years ago was double what I now get paid, and there were regular share options, and large cash bonuses. My three years of private non contributory pension is still set to return me more than my 10 years of 9% contributory Teachers pension (I couldn't afford to pay into the teachers pension when I started due to the student loan repayments).

Still, happier knowing that I'm now making a tiny, but hopefully positive contribution to society, rather than helping rich people get richer. And I get good holidays.

Surely you would know the salary scales and timelines in the field of employment you desire versus the cost of entry e.g. obtaining a PHD the loans required with the length of time to pay back. I certainly did and realised getting into the work place without further education minus debt was the way to go.

Have often thought that a simple tax of say 10% on everyone whether you earn 10,000 or 10 billion in salary or investments which requires just one form would create more government revenue with substantially less administrative costs.

My PhD in Engineering was valued as a 500 pound increment over the graduate joining salary (12k) at the time. This was the IT industry in the 1980s. After that it contributed nothing to my advancement in a technical career. I would have done much better to have skipped the PhD and started 4 years earlier as a plain graduate and I would have probably increased my salary by 2 or 3k in those years. But of course, other industries and career paths, would have different outcomes. A PhD was essential for a University career. But in general you didn't do a PhD then for financial reasons. I doubt I would even go to University at all, if I was starting today, as I would not want the debt. On the other hand, one guy I studied with went on to fly the Space Shuttle, and he would not have done that, following his career path, without a PhD. It's a strange old world we live in and its hard to know if the choices we make are good ones until it is often to late to change them.

By that measure, the most lucrative career must be that of the dog owner, they seem to have money to burn😀

I pay way too much tax for the privilege of living in Scotland but in return, my son has benefited from free education to degree level, it’s free for all. It’s early days, he’s yet to realise the potential but at least around here, an engineering degree gets you an interview for some decent jobs, once you’ve made it past that hurdle, a degree and experience should keep you busy for life.

In my nieces case, market/peer pressure with the competition having at least a Batchelors, many with Masters becoming increasingly the norm, in order to stand out in a crowded job marketplace felt the PHD was a very necessary qualification edge to have over the others. However, in effect over supply of highly qualified applicants in her field has depressed potential earnings.

So whilst has she decided not to follow her first choice of career, she found a very rewarding and less demanding future. Without question in many cases not having a certain qualification may exclude your from certain opportunities, having said that its down to what you want to make of your life. Her sister has an MBA in another field and is only now starting to see the benefits and some progression.

Much is the same in teaching - although we struggle for initial applicants, due to the depressed salaries, movement to Leadership is very competitive. These days there is an expectation that you have at least an MA, and the Gov have created a whole raft of NPQ's (8 in total) that again are important just to get you past the initial application and on to an interview short list.

I dont know that it is a general issue of certificates. Obviously a PhD is important for a research or academic job in a technical subject but what is the relevance to a practical / industrial job? I recruited enough engineers but I would go near a PhD candidate for a maintenance engineer. Maybe it would be different for a design engineer but then I would be looking just as much for imagination / an ability to think laterally as I would for paper.

Your last sentence is absolutely right, not least because many of us dont really know what we want to do as a job until we have worked at a few we didnt want.