Public employee salary

1 State
- 1.1 State government workforce
- 1.2 Salary impact on state budgets
2 Federal
- 2.1 President
3 Criticisms
4 State public employee salary resources
5 External links
6 References

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.

State

Main article: State government salary

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:

State	Total Employees	Police and Fire	Corrections	Highways	Public Welfare	Health and Hospitals	Education	All Other
United States Federal Government	5,325,575
Alabama	107,657	1,641	5,503	4,711	4,380	18,923	57,980	14,519
Alaska	29,943	702	1,965	3,107	1,921	1,006	11,845	9,397
Arizona	82,890	2,062	9,720	2,692	4,678	3,395	46,927	13,416
Arkansas	72,401	1,214	5,191	3,416	4,149	11,411	35,180	11,840
California	490,791	12,327	62,374	21,242	4,308	59,868	231,014	99,658
Colorado	96,875	1,552	7,374	3,140	2,470	6,839	63,123	12,377
Connecticut	78,563	1,908	7,294	2,951	5,853	12,192	34,524	13,841
Delaware	31,194	1,002	2,891	1,557	1,579	3,846	13,118	7,201
Florida	213,910	4,757	30,955	7,693	10,239	24,911	82,514	52,841
Georgia	154,017	2,056	19,572	5,625	8,589	12,506	83,841	21,828
Hawaii	73,634	0	2,384	860	507	6,751	51,310	11,822
Idaho	28,533	447	1,950	1,663	1,722	1,921	14,204	6,626
Illinois	158,587	3,687	11,130	7,220	9,327	14,048	89,633	23,542
Indiana	116,572	1,960	6,799	4,071	4,730	4,259	83,945	10,808
Iowa	66,631	1,019	3,266	2,405	3,084	9,969	37,288	9,600
Kansas	54,727	1,142	3,417	3,300	2,266	4,615	30,067	9,920
Kentucky	98,127	2,271	4,138	4,535	5,745	8,417	55,912	17,109
Louisiana	104,325	1,732	7,024	4,814	5,908	19,653	48,081	17,113
Maine	28,077	588	1,253	2,244	3,058	1,702	12,909	6,323
Maryland	93,930	2,392	12,665	4,712	6,595	11,261	33,292	23,013
Massachusetts	116,404	6,311	6,211	3,584	7,329	14,522	51,318	27,129
Michigan	186,890	2,636	15,176	3,022	10,821	21,769	113,871	19,595
Minnesota	98,437	1,019	4,235	4,848	3,005	7,517	58,213	19,600
Mississippi	64,226	1,195	3,344	3,417	2,991	14,968	26,900	11,411
Missouri	104,263	2,500	12,578	6,364	7,857	14,808	43,440	16,716
Montana	26,219	496	1,352	2,192	1,775	1,726	12,661	6,017
Nebraska	37,717	783	2,974	2,145	2,642	4,738	17,539	6,896
Nevada	35,105	841	3,707	1,808	1,691	3,006	16,657	7,395
New Hampshire	26,111	511	1,195	1,945	1,553	1,713	12,826	6,368
New Jersey	176,993	4,354	9,489	6,625	9,088	24,074	76,269	47,094
New Mexico	56,530	734	4,043	2,276	1,826	10,402	28,124	9,125
New York	287,708	6,531	32,036	12,675	5,025	55,645	89,309	86,487
North Carolina	174,022	3,478	21,218	10,950	1,233	23,473	86,965	26,705
North Dakota	24,658	192	798	1,017	563	2,544	14,503	5,041
Ohio	187,678	2,563	15,497	7,038	2,795	20,438	115,796	23,551
Oklahoma	88,750	2,015	5,377	3,002	6,895	8,532	49,367	13,562
Oregon	83,083	1,510	5,538	3,933	8,393	9,439	37,913	16,357
Pennsylvania	208,973	6,785	19,550	16,391	13,050	14,961	93,522	44,714
Rhode Island	23,422	315	1,586	770	1,223	1,740	10,872	6,916
South Carolina	89,741	1,938	7,450	4,860	4,325	12,691	44,460	14,017
South Dakota	18,771	308	892	1,044	1,092	1,754	9,589	4,092
Tennessee	99,984	1,642	7,008	4,204	8,057	10,009	52,663	16,401
Texas	364,638	6,602	45,123	14,651	23,148	59,118	174,029	41,967
Utah	65,293	815	3,224	1,615	3,011	9,673	37,503	9,452
Vermont	16,644	756	1,055	1,015	1,334	907	7,589	3,988
Virginia	157,827	3,034	14,062	7,692	2,947	22,235	86,137	21,720
Washington	155,147	2,177	9,801	5,958	10,124	18,333	86,007	22,747
West Virginia	47,613	1,029	3,342	5,105	3,337	2,709	22,176	9,915
Wisconsin	105,621	911	10,515	1,427	2,049	5,411	70,196	15,112
Wyoming	15,723	300	1,355	1,871	795	1,591	6,064	3,747

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]

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.

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.

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]

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]

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]

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.

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]

State public employee salary resources