State Workers: Overpaid, Underpaid, Or Just Right?
CAGW ranked Texas and California as states with the largest differences in compensation, favoring public workers, while Utah and Montana boasted the least disparity.
However, two years ago, the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute published research arguing exactly the opposite. It argues that public sector workers earn between 11 and 12 percent less than private sector workers.
Why are their numbers different?
The Economic Policy Institute says “claims that state and local workers make exorbitant wages and compensation almost always fail to consider the occupation or education levels of the workers being compared. Studies which make an apple-to-apple comparison (controlling for education and other worker characteristics) show that state and local workers are not overpaid.”
It’s interesting to note that the Economic Policy Institute’s data show that the Public sector pays more than the private sector for employees with up to an Associate’s degree in educational attainment. For those with a bachelor’s degree or more education, the private sector pays more.