Public-private wage gap grows
Nevada state government employees, who are balking at Gov. Brian Sandoval’s proposal to trim wages by 5 percent, will doubtlessly find little succor or solace in a study for The New York Times by demographers at Queens College of the City University of New York.
Using census data, the study confirmed state workers job-for-job are paid more than their counterparts in the private sector. The gap in Nevada is one of the highest in the nation.
When the median wages of state government workers without college degrees are compared to similarly educated private-sector wage earners, Nevada’s state workers are paid 27.4 percent more — only California, New York and Connecticut had greater gaps. When college-educated state workers are compared to Nevada’s private-sector workers with degrees, the gap is not so large — 4.9 percent higher for state workers – but ranks even higher, behind only Wyoming and Montana.
What makes things even worse for state employees: The study looked only at wages and did not take into account benefits and pensions, which in Nevada are quite handsome. Neither did the study look at local government workers, who traditionally have been paid more than state workers.
As if that news weren’t bad enough, on Monday the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce came out with another study of state and local government worker compensation showing Nevada’s public employees have the ninth-highest pay in the country, which is actually down from sixth-highest in the nation. Their average pay grew by 2.2 percent during the recession, from $55,700 in 2008 to $56,900 in 2009.
When broken down by job, the chamber found many Nevada public employees are among the highest-paid in the nation, including firefighters, police and judges. Even teachers moved up the ranks when compared to other states.
“Notably, K-12 teachers, which account for the largest single group of state and local workers,” the study said, “moved from ranking 23rd nationally in 2006 to ranking 18th nationally in both 2008 and 2009.”
Even a 5 percent cut in state worker salaries will leave most of them far better off than those who pay their salaries with private-sector wages. While many in the state Legislature insist taxes simply must be raised in order to continue providing vital services, it is difficult to justify when this kind of wage disparity exists — and is getting worse.
