Private sector pay v. government pay

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Tuesday, February 9, 2010

New Media editor Don Fenley casts a big net for hidden gems about and behind the news

Published Thursday, December 11 2008 - (0) Comments

The Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics' report on wages can't be used as tool for micro comparison of how your wages stack up, but it will get you in the ball park on the macro scale.

When I say macro that means dividing the universe of wage earners into those who work for state and local government and those who toil in the private sector.

In Sept. '08 the total hourly cost for state and local government workers averaged $39.18 per hour. Wages and salaries for those public servants averaged $25.77 per hour.

Private industry employer compensation costs averaged $27.07 per hour worked. The wages and salaries for those private sector workers averaged $19.14 per hour.

Government employers got an average of $13.41 benefits for every hour worked in Sept. '08.

Private industry employers averaged spending $7.93 for employee benefits during the same period.

State and local government employer costs for health benefits were higher ($4.21) than private industry ($1.93).

And retirement and savings costs, which includes both defined benefit and defined contribution plans, were also higher for state and local government employers ($3.09) than private employers ($0.97).

In other words:

The average hourly pay for a government employee is 34.6 percent higher than the average wage of a private sector worker.

The average spent on a government employee's benefits package per hour is 69 percent higher than the average cost of a private sector workers' benefit package.

The average cost per hour for government worker's health benefits is 219 percent more than what is paid for a private sector worker's health benefits.

A government worker's average retirement benefit per hour is 319 percent higher than the hourly cost of a private sector worker's retirement benefit.

CLICK HERE for the government's summary of the report and hot links to the data tables.

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