Measuring the impact of the strike on GDP growth

While the practical impact of the public servants’ strike is clearly evident, the impact on the economy is less so. For GDP growth purposes, the statistical authorities worldwide have long ago given up trying to measure the work productivity and changes therein of public sector workers, says FNB chief economist Cees Bruggemans. They therefore merely take into account the actual number of civil servants employed and being paid a salary. What these servants may be up to isn’t taken into account. So whether they work or strike, it doesn’t make the least difference to GDP or its growth. After all, it is all paid for by you the taxpayer and electorate, says Bruggemans. But for the rest of us who are enormously inconvenienced by the disrupted public services we proactively seek alternatives, in the process using our cars, consuming petrol, trying to get a service done by a private entity. “In all these instances we would be engaged in additional economic activity. This stuff wouldn’t be happening if it wasn’t for the public sector strike,” says Bruggemans. The deduction, he says, could be that the strike could well be adding to GDP growth at present rather than deducting from it. “Imagine government advisers suggesting that the public sector should strike more, and if possible for longer, indeed go on permanent holiday, for consider the extra GDP growth the country could be enjoying, and the extra work that would be created!”