Labor & Employment Law

Setting the Record Straight: Public Employees Make Less Than Private Sector

By James Parks

The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) is setting the record straight and exposing the falsehoods behind  the extremist rhetoric about public employees from Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his ilk.

In a new report, CBPP looks at the facts about public employees and here?s what the data show: Public employees are paid 4 percent to 11 percent less than private-sector workers with similar education, job tenure and other characteristics.  This wage disadvantage is greatest for higher-wage public workers.

Public employees also earn less than their private-sector counterparts when you count both their wages and benefits such as pensions and health insurance. Benefits are more generous and secure for public employees than for most private-sector workers. But even after factoring in the value of these benefits, it does not eliminate the gap between public employees and their counterparts in the private sector.

 Check out the full CBPP report here.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on February 25, 2011 (boomark / email).