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Overpaid public-sector employees

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that state and local government employee total compensation is now 47 percent higher than for private-sector employees.

Total compensation for federal, state, and local government employees cost taxpayers $1.9 trillion in 2016, or about $15,176 per household.  Although a 2010 study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) found full-time private industry workers worked an average of 12 percent more hours per year than state and local government workers, private-sector workers on average make less in every category.

Most Americans are under the impression that the $50.03 average total hourly compensation for state and local employees versus the $34.53 an hour for private-sector employees is due to public-sector defined benefit pension costs.

BLS hourly data reveals that state and local government employees receive $18.80 in benefits compared to $10.48 for the private sector, a spread of $8.32 or 79 percent more.  But state and local employee hourly wages and salaries average $31.23 versus $24.06 for private-sector employees, a spread of $7.17 or 30 percent more.  That means that public-sector paychecks are also 29 percent higher than private-sector paychecks.

Read the full story from American Thinker


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