** Steve Breyman is Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.
Government Employees Are Not "Over-Compensated"
January 24, 2011
Government worker bashing is nearing a crescendo as we stare into the abyss of American public finances. There's nary a mayor, governor or president who hasn't found his or her work force an irresistible target of criticism for "greedy unions," "extravagant benefits," "unaffordable pensions," and "shared sacrifice."
Why is this?
Are teachers, fire fighters, snowplow drivers, and environmental regulators really that well paid?
Do FBI agents, state troopers, and local cops really have "overly generous" health benefits? Do health care aides, prison guards, and those who protect our drinking water really have platinum-plated pensions?
To answer these questions we must do some comparisons and some contextualizing. There are countless tendentious manipulations of the private vs. public sector compensation data by corporate-backed think tankers out there. That's what they get paid to do. Simply looking at public vs. private pay averages is deceptive.
SNIP* But the ultimate test is individual. Do it yourself: go to
http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/ or
http://www.cs.state.ny.us/ to see what the job most like yours pays.
As to public vs. private sector health benefits, the data are even trickier. There are no large, nationally representative databases. There's no doubt that most small businesses do not offer health benefits as generous as those found in government, if any at all. But if you compare public employee benefits to those for staff at large corporations (500 or more employees), the benefits are nearly identical.
A fair comparison? You decide.
in full:
http://www.counterpunch.org/breyman01242011.html
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
