Compensation for State and Local Government Workers

Are state and local government workers overcompensated? This question has re state and local government workers overcompensated? This question has taken on considerable heat in the last year or two, as many states and localitaken on considerable heat in the last year or two, as many states and localities face budgetary stress. In this paper, we step back from the highly charged ties face budgetary stress. In this paper, we step back from the highly charged rhetoric and address this question with the two primary data sources for looking at rhetoric and address this question with the two primary data sources for looking at compensation of state and local government workers: the Current Population Survey compensation of state and local government workers: the Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, (CPS) conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) microdata collected as and the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (ECEC) microdata collected as part of the National Compensation Survey (NCS) of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. part of the National Compensation Survey (NCS) of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The fundamental difference between these two sources of data is that the CPS is The fundamental difference between these two sources of data is that the CPS is a household survey while the ECEC is a survey of employers. Data from the NCS a household survey while the ECEC is a survey of employers. Data from the NCS have been used in studies of union–nonunion, interindustry, and occupational wage have been used in studies of union–nonunion, interindustry, and occupational wage differentials (Gittleman and Pierce 2007, 2011; Levenson and Zoghi 2011) and in differentials (Gittleman and Pierce 2007, 2011; Levenson and Zoghi 2011) and in studies of compensation inequality (Pierce 2001, 2010). However, while NCS publistudies of compensation inequality (Pierce 2001, 2010). However, while NCS publications regularly present tabulations separately for the private sector, on the one cations regularly present tabulations separately for the private sector, on the one hand, and state and local government, on the other, the microdata from the NCS hand, and state and local government, on the other, the microdata from the NCS have not been previously used to compare compensation in the private sector to that have not been previously used to compare compensation in the private sector to that in the state and local government sectors. in the state and local government sectors. We begin by presenting some tabulations on pay differences across sectors We begin by presenting some tabulations on pay differences across sectors from these two data series—both raw pay differences between public and private from these two data series—both raw pay differences between public and private sectors and also some breakdowns by education level of workers (for the Current sectors and also some breakdowns by education level of workers (for the Current Population Survey) and skill level of the job (for the Employer Costs for Employee Population Survey) and skill level of the job (for the Employer Costs for Employee