He acknowledges that even with the new rules, doctors will remain well compensated compared with other public sector professions.
Legislation after regulation passed by the government has solidified a culture of conservatism within public sector professions, resulting in "silo mentalities" resistant to being customer-focused.
Like other public sector professions, the judiciary has endured years of pay freezes, from 2009-13, followed by two years when salaries nudged up by 1% per annum.
With graduates so heavily in debt, a promise to pay off the loans of those in understaffed public sector professions – teaching, social work, probation – could drive more people to apply and wouldn't cost a great deal.
Some universities specialise in fields such as the arts, nursing and public sector professions that, despite making an invaluable contribution to society and the economy, pay less on average.
In its report Parliamentary Pay in 2007, the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) found that the cash element of the MPs' reward package was worth 85% of the average cash reward available to a selected group of other public sector professions.
Given that junior doctors just rejected the government's new contract deal and teachers went on strike earlier this month, there will no doubt be worries in these and other public sector professions about how their grievances will be handled.
Recent attention to class size and teacher hirings come amid debate over Mitt Romney's comments regarding Obama's calls for Congress to make more of an effort to retain teachers, among other public sector professions.
Most publications addressing the topics of interest focus exclusively on doctors, nurses and dentists; rarely are other health sector professions included.
Of course, these results say nothing about output in service-sector professions, where most people in advanced economies are employed today.
