This article analyses the trend of earnings in the public and private sectors of the British economy from 1950 to 1975. It was found that public and private sector earnings moved closely together throughout the 1950s and 1960s but then diverged considerably in the early 1970s, with public sector earnings moving ahead of private sector earnings in an unprecedented fashion in 1974 and 1975; given the earlier stability in relative earnings, this movement might be temporary. There was a significant difference in the cyclical behaviour of the two series with public sector earnings generally increasing faster than private sector earnings during the downswing and vice versa during the upswing; this finding is consistent with the lesser exposure of the public sector to market pressures. Incomes policy does not appear to have affected relative earnings in any systematic way.