I’m sorry but states are going bankrupt funding pensions that the taxpayers cannot afford. I know what I am talking about—I live in Illinois, and the State is a mess due to unfunded pension liability—we area tied with Greece on lists of likely default. We have street cleaners and garbage collectors making as much as folks with Masters degrees. However, I am not comparing those folks, nor am I comparing aggregates. (Seems all the government paygrade defenders are talking aggregates—I am not comparing aggregates—)Your article is talking aggregate when it makes it’s claims citing private sector workers not having degrees...I just don’t think you can make that comparison.
It states: “state and local workers are, on average, about four years older than private-sector workers and half have a four-year college-degree or more, compared to less than 30 percent in the private sector. Once these differences in age and education are factored in, state and local public workers earn less, not more, than their private-sector counterparts. But what about benefits?”
The article did not discuss benefits which is the huge differential here and what makes government workers receive twice as much—it is not just pay but pay plus benefits....and there is no mechanism to tell government entities that they cannot afford these benefits any more, yet we are telling workers everyday in the private sectors—look at the unemployment numbers—none are from government workers except perhaps the temps in the census.
I am saying the clerk at the DMV who has no college degree and only years punched on the clock is making a lot more than the clerk at a store or other private sector entity with similar educational background and experience. In part due to pay, but primarily due to benefits—health and retirement.
There are no government pensions in private sector—local, state, and federal workers are getting them, we can’t afford them because the government nevewr adjusts for declining tax inflows—they just bill future generations—hence Atlas Shrugged coming....
Also, government workers do not have to participate in Soc. Security retirement—they have their own programs....
I am saying that the government worker with a BS in liberal arts who has been employed with government is making more than a private sector worker employed with a BS. the bank.
BTW, I am not sure of your source on your numbers—CPER seems to lean left to me...at least from some of what I saw.
“There are no government pensions in private sector—local, state, and federal workers are getting them,”
Most Federal workers now get a small pension but most of their retirement comes from their TSP which is like a 401k. The more they contribute, the more they get. Big Federal pension plans for new employees were eliminated about 20 years ago.
“Also, government workers do not have to participate in Soc. Security retirement—they have their own programs.”
That simply is not true.