A report critiques the government's proposal for local and regional pay in the public sector, arguing that even if private sector employment increases as the government claims it will lead to a loss of £2.7 billion to the economy and that if, as is more likely, this does not occur the loss will be up to £9.7 billion. The report refutes all three of the government claims to support the policy, arguing that public sector workers are not more highly paid than private sector ones, that private sector pay policies are frequently negotiated on a national level or with national benchmarking, and that there is no evidence that higher public sector pay leads to suppression of private sector employment.