The Truth About Public Employees, the New Convenient Scapegoats

[SHRED]

I have had email exchanges recently with the author of this article.
She told me she was going to post an article today based on some links and info I emailed to her this last week.
Here is that article.

The Truth About Public Employees, the New Convenient Scapegoats
Friday
Jan 7, 2011
12:35 pm
By Kari Lydersen

It’s become a common refrain: public employees from teachers to parking meter attendants to firefighters to nurses are bleeding state and local budgets dry with exorbitant wages and pensions.

As recent news reports and communiqués by conservatives have pointed out, a portion of public sector employees do earn what many middle- and working-class Americans would consider very generous wages and benefits. USA Today reported that on average, public workers earn $11.90 more per hour than comparable private sector workers.

But such numbers constitute misleading propaganda, according to labor analysts and proponents and several recent studies, including an April report by the Center for State and Local Government Excellence and the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS). "At its heart," Amy Traub wrote in the The Nation in July, scapegoating of public employees is an insidious way to divide public and private sector workers who share many of the same interests."

The NIRS study noted that when education and work experience are considered, state and local employees earn 11 to 12 percent less than comparable private sector workers; and their compensation is still lower when their benefits plans are figured in (6.8 percent lower for state workers and 7.4 percent lower for local workers).

CONTINUED:
http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6816/scapegoating_public_employees/

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[stray cat]

1. How many jobs now give full pensions at not 401Ks that are guaranteed by tax payers?

I think jpbs with guaranteed pension and employer donations has gotten pretty low.

[dkf]

2. They are valuing a pension and health benefits at 4% of salary?

That must be a joke right? Who is doing these calculations?

[SHRED]

3. Where?

I missed that.

[dkf]

4. Compensation is 11-12% lower but even with benefits they are 6.8% to 7.4% lower.

That is valuing a retirement pension and health benefits at 3.6 to 5.2% of income.

[SHRED]

5. Here is a clarification

The 11-12% refers to wages and salaries.
The 6.8% to 7.4% refers to benefit compensation.

The article was not as clear as it could be,

From the NIRS study:



The analysis finds that:

*Public and private workforces differ in important
ways. For instance, jobs in the public sector require
much more education on average than those in
the private sector. Employees in state and local
sectors are twice as likely as their private sector
counterparts to have a college or advanced degree.

*Wages and salaries of state and local employees are
lower than those for private sector workers with
comparable earnings determinants (e.g., education).
State employees typically earn 11 percent less; local
workers earn 12 percent less.

*Over the last 20 years, the earnings for state and
local employees have generally declined relative to
comparable private sector employees.

*The pattern of declining relative compensation
remains true in most of the large states we
examined, although some state-level variation
exists.

*Benefits (e.g., pensions) comprise a greater share of
employee compensation in the public sector.

*State and local employees have lower total
compensation than their private sector counterparts.
On average, total compensation is 6.8 percent lower
for state employees and 7.4 percent lower for local
workers, compared with comparable private sector
employees.

http://www.nirsonline.org/storage/nirs/documents/final_out_of_balance_report_april_2010.pdf

[dkf]

6. So state workers earn 11% less but with benefits earn 6.8% less.

The gap is the value of the benefits. 11-6.8= 4.2%

[SHRED]

7. Not how I read it

One is a "wages and salaries" comparison.

The other is a "compensation" (benefits) comparison.

Separate comparisons with the private sector.