ABSTRACT
A large and complex public sector of employment developed in Britain during the three decades after 1945. In the immediate post-war period, major fuel, power and transport industries were nationalized and the reform of health, education and social security provisions established the basis of a substantial welfare state. Public sector employment increased continuously until the early 1980s, when it reached more than 7 million employees, nearly 30 per cent of the employed labour force. Since then it has declined to just over 5 million employees, or 20 per cent of the work force.
