The other day we talked about the news that federal government employees are making more than private industry employees. See Our Government Workers Raking in the Money.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics issued a press release on 6/9/10 titled Employer Costs for Employee Compensation –March 2010, text or PDF, addressing private industry and local and state government employer costs. Here's an important paragraph addressing government and private industry:
Employer costs for employee compensation averaged $29.71 per hour worked in March 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries averaged $20.67 per hour worked and accounted for 69.6 percent of these costs, while benefits averaged $9.04 and accounted for the remaining 30.4 percent. Total employer compensation costs for private industry workers averaged $27.73 per hour worked in March 2010. Total employer compensation costs for State and local government workers averaged $39.81 per hour worked in March 2010.
Emphasis mine.
Taking this at face value, local and state government workers are being compensated more than private industry workers. Of course, the trouble with averages is that no one is average, and few people, if any, make the average wage. Maybe there are some local or state governments with such high wages that they skew the averages. And maybe there are many small private industries with such low compensation packages that they, too, skew the averages.
But the press release is interesting, nonetheless.
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