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Public employee salary

Public employee salary information is provided by some state government transparency websites such as Missouri's Accountability Portal. (See state public employee salary resources below.) Some states do not provide salary information. Although the state itself may not provide employee information, some private organizations make this information available, including newspapers and think tanks. For example, the Asbury Park Press provides employee data for New Jersey.

[edit] State

Main article: State government salary

[edit] State government workforce

Below is 2010 state employment and payroll data from the Census Bureau's 2010 Annual Survey of Public Employment and Payroll.^[1] (For 2007 workforce data, read Public employee workforce, 2007.) It is separated by state and government function:

[edit] Salary impact on state budgets

State and local governments employ some 19.6 million people nationwide as of 2010.^[2] Employee compensation costs represent the largest set of expenditures in every state budget. Total state and local government expenditures on salaries were $1.14 trillion in 2010 according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.^[3]

In 2008 and 2009, public employee salaries grew about 3.1 percent annually for state and local government workers. In 2010, government worker salaries growth dropped to 1.4 percent growth.^[4]

[edit] Federal

Main article: Federal employee salary

In December 2010, a spending freeze was placed on federal agencies, the Department of Homeland Security, and federal employee salaries.^[5] Since 1969, pay for federal workers has increased 428 percent.^[6] During this same time period, pay for private sector workers has increased 632 percent (as of 2010). ^[7] Since 2005, the number of Federal employees earning over $150,000 has jumped from 12,399 to 171,689.^[8] Legistorm.com provides information on Congressional staff salaries. Users can search by staffer name, Senator/Representative, committee, leadership office, administrative office, or state.

Data Universe provides a database of federal government employee salaries, searchable by name, agency, job title, or location. The results show the adjusted base salary and any merit award. Employees involved in security work, the FBI, CIA, Defense Department, nuclear materials, IRS, and jobs essential to national security are excluded. The list contains most executive branch employees but does not cover the White House, Congress, the Postal Service, and independent agencies and commissions.

The Federal Judicial Center has a list of federal judicial salaries dated from 1789 here.

[edit] President

President Obama reported $1.7 million in earnings for 2010, paying $453,770 in total federal taxes, and $51,568 in state income taxes in Illinois.^[9] Vice President Joe Biden and his wife reported a total income of $379,000, paying $86,626 in federal taxes, $18,000 in state taxes to Virginia and Delaware, and donating $5,350 to charity.

[edit] Criticisms

Local governments like cities, for example, may pay large salaries while suffering fiscal difficulties.^[10] In 2008, wages and benefits for public employees accounted for half of total state and local government spending at $1.1 trillion.^[11]

The average quit rate in the state and local workforce in 2009 was just one-third the rate in the private sector, suggesting that state and local governments pay more than necessary to attract and retain qualified workers. ^[11]

[edit] Public v. private sector

Main article: Public v. private sector salaries

The gap for compensation between federal and private sector workers has doubled in the past 9 years, with Federal employees being awarded larger pay and benefits increases than the private sector.^[12]

Federal employees earned on average, between pay and benefits, $123,049 in 2009, while private workers made $61,051.^[12] However, that pay differential is skewed due to the nature of federal jobs versus the more broad average of private sector jobs. When jobs are compared based on comparable skills and comparing salaries only, the differential falls to $67,69 for federal jobs versus $60,046 for comparable jobs in the private sector according to 2008 analyses. ^[13]

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Federal employees earned $30,415 more than private sector jobs in 2000, but it has increased to $61,998 in 2009:^[12] Federal pay has increased 33 percent faster than inflation since 2000. A Bureau of Labor Statistics report issued in November of 2010 comes to an opposite conclusion - that public sector comparable pay is now 2.1% behind private sector pay. ^[14]

In August of 2010, President Obama ordered a freeze on bonuses for 2,900 political appointees, and gave 1.4% across-the-board pay hike in 2011 for the rest of the Federal workforce, the smallest raise in more than a decade.^[12]

[edit] Corruption

The federal government has paid over 250,000 dead people $1 billion over the past decade, with $18 million from Social Security, $92 million in Medicare claim, and $8.2 million for medical supplies prescribed for dead patients.^[15]

[edit] Benefits and retirement burdens

States’ recent investment losses, which exceeded $800 billion in 2008, have worsened the budgetary pressures of pension obligations. For example, the state of Illinois was forced to borrow $3.5 billion to meet its pension obligations, thereby incurring tens of millions of dollars in additional debt service costs. Estimates peg the total unfunded liabilities of state and local pension plans between $1 trillion and $3 trillion.^[16]

Unlike the private sector, state and local governments have largely adopted “defined benefit” plans, under which specific types of services are assured. (In 2009, for example, defined benefit plans were provided to 84 percent of state and local workers compared to 21 percent of private-sector employees.^[17]) The costs of defined benefit plans escalate annually. In contrast, “defined contribution” plans provide a fixed payment for pensions and thus in fully funding pensions. Moreover, public employees contribute far less to their health care coverage compared to workers in the private sector.

Currently, every private sector worker in America would have to pay $12,000 to support the current pension promises to public sector workers.^[18] This figure does not include health benefits.

[edit] 2012 bonuses

In 2012, the Federal government handed out $430 million in bonuses.^[19] The total figure was down $43 million from 2011, due to new austerity restrictions. The largest bonuses went to senior execs in Washington and to air traffic controllers. The highest awarded bonuses went to 16 employees and was $62,895.^[19]

[edit] State public employee salary resources

Main article: State government salary

Below is a list of salary databases available in each state. Or you can find information in each state profile about the pay for elected officials, public employees, as well as additional benefits like pensions, vacation days, sick pay, and health care.

[edit] External links

• PI buzz - Government Pay
• State Salary Databases from WikiFOIA
• Data Universe, 2009 Federal employee salaries
• Watchdog, Chamber of Commerce confers on public pensions, Aug. 2, 2010

[edit] References