Study: Mich. public pay, benefits not out of line
LANSING, Mich.—A new study released Thursday contradicts Gov. Rick Snyder's contention that public workers' pay and benefits are out of line with the private sector, saying instead that state workers make about 7 percent less in pay and benefits annually than their private counterparts, while local government workers make about the same.
"Public employees do get much better health care benefits than private-sector employees get, but they pay for it through lower wages," said the study's author, Jeffrey Keefe, a labor and employment relations associate professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "Public employees in the state of Michigan are ... neither overpaid nor overcompensated."
Keefe's research challenges a citizen's guide Gov. Rick Snyder released Monday that showed the average state worker makes over $85,000 in pay and benefits, while a private-sector worker makes just under $40,000.
The Republican governor acknowledged his data includes minimum-wage and