Labor & Employment Law

Missouri Public Employees: Paid Less, Better Educated

By Tula Connell

One more study is out now that explodes the myth that public employees make more than their counterparts in the private sector. A new Economic Policy Institute (EPI) study released this week finds that full-time state and local government employees in Missouri are undercompensated by 15.7 percent, when compared with similar private-sector workers.

Among the report’s key findings:

• Missouri public-sector workers are more highly educated than private-sector workers: 53 percent of full-time Missouri public-sector workers hold at least a four-year college degree, compared to 27 percent of full-time private-sector workers.
• College-educated public-sector workers earn considerably less than private-sector employees. On the other hand, the roughly 3 percent of public-sector workers without high school diplomas tend to earn more than their peers in the private sector because the public sector sets a floor on earnings.
• Missouri state and local governments and school districts pay college-educated workers, on average, 37 percent less than do private employers.

Read the full EPI report here.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on March 03, 2011 (boomark / email).