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Public Employees Paid Less than Private-Sector Workers | AFL-CIO NOW BLOG

Public Employees Paid Less than Private-Sector Workers | AFL-CIO NOW BLOG

Public Employees Paid Less than Private-Sector Workers

by Tula Connell, Jan 7, 2011

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With the barrage of orchestrated extremist attacks on public employees, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) reminds us today of a study it commissioned last year that disproves one of the biggest lies by anti-workers–that public employee make excessive pay. In short, public employees are paid less than private-sector workers, even when factoring in employer-provided benefits.

The paper by Rutgers University professor Jeffrey Keefe found:

Private-sector workers earned average annual wages of $55,132, $6,061 greater than the $49,072 earned by public-sector workers. When looking at total compensation including employer-provided benefits, this gap narrowed but the private-sector workers still earned $2,001 more per year than public sector workers ($71,109 in total compensation, versus $69,108). This gap was especially large among more educated workers. College-educated workers on averages earned $22,966 less in total compensation.

Read the full report here.