The Australian public sector workforce is less efficient than its private counterpart, News Corporation's executive chairman Rupert Murdoch says.

Small item: Apart from higher pay, public workers in Australia take many more sick days than those in hard working private sector! - @rupertmurdoch

ABC Fact Check contacted News Corporation in Australia and the United States to ask Mr Murdoch the basis for his comments.

No response was received.

The claim: Rupert Murdoch says public workers in Australia earn more and take many more sick days than their private sector counterparts.

Rupert Murdoch says public workers in Australia earn more and take many more sick days than their private sector counterparts. The verdict: Mr Murdoch's claim that public sector employees earn more and take more sick leave than their private sector counterparts checks out.

Measuring pay

According to estimates by the Australian Bureau of Statistics for May 2013, the average weekly earnings of public sector employees were higher than private sector employees.

Public sector employees made an average of $1,269.70 a week while the comparable private sector figure was $1,066.30.

The ABS survey excluded employees in defence forces, agriculture, forestry, fishery and those working in overseas locations.

Measuring absenteeism

An annual survey on absenteeism is produced by Direct Health Solutions (DHS), a consulting firm specialising in absence management.

Its definition of absenteeism includes all unplanned absences including sick leave, workers' compensation leave and compassionate and carer's leave. Non-sick leave absences make up only about 20 per cent of the absenteeism rate.

The latest DHS report released last week, for the calendar year 2012, found the average level of employee absence in Australia rose to 8.9 days per employee from 8.7 days in 2011.

It found absence was 0.3 days more per employee in the public sector, at 9.2 days, compared to private sector, at 8.9 days.

This is a difference of just over 3 per cent, although the DHS report says the difference is 5 per cent, which appears to be a mathematical error.

The report also shows that absenteeism in the public sector improved in 2012 while in the private sector it worsened.

The public sector rate was 12 per cent lower than the 10.3 days per employee recorded in 2011.

The private sector rate rose 3 per cent from 8.6 days per employee in 2011.

According to the Public Services Commission (PSC), "making comparisons on absence rates with the private sector is challenging largely because of the difficulty in obtaining comparable data".

The PSC describes the DHS report as one of the best known workplace absence surveys conducted in Australia, but says it has a low response rate.

The 2013 DHS report says 108 organisations participated in its survey, including 17 public service agencies.

The PSC, which only collects data on its own public service agencies, said the median absence rate was 11.1 days per employee across the Australian public service in 2011-12.

It said there was substantial variation in unscheduled absence rates across its agencies, ranging from 3.1 days to 21.4 days.

Further, PSC and the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet both say the comparison between public and private sector absenteeism is difficult because public sector employees tend to underuse their leave entitlements, while private sector employees get fewer paid leave days per year.

ABC Fact Check contacted the ABS, various universities, industry bodies and other state and federal audit and industrial relations departments but did not find further reliable research on public and private sector sick leave comparisons.

The verdict

Mr Murdoch's tweet that public sector employees receive higher pay is correct.

On the limited data available, his comment that public sector employees take more sick leave than their private sector counterparts checks out. However to say "many more sick days" is not supported by the available evidence.

Sources