A solution to the WI budget hole

Don Surber had a post on Monday about the disparity between state government workers' pay versus that of private sector workers.

The average state government worker makes $50,350. The average private sector worker makes $43,889. That is a 14% difference.

And don’t get me started on fringe benefits.

The Las Vegas Sun had a story on Sunday comparing what state workers in Nevada compared to what state employees make in other states.

That’s not the question.

How much do they make compared to the people in Nevada who don’t work for the state. That is the pool of workers from which the state of Nevada hires.

State workers there make $54,831 a year.

Private sector workers make $42,825 a year.

State workers in Nevada make 28% more in pay alone. Plus better benefits — more state holidays, more sick leave, earlier retirement, defined benefits retirement — than the people in the private sector.

That makes no sense. These are mainly clerical jobs.

But in state after state, that is the case. Taxpayers make less than their employees.

In California, state workers make $66,928 a year.

Everyone else averages $50,182 a year.

That’s a 33% difference.

Is it any wonder that California state government is running up a $42 billion deficit?

Wow, 33% more than private jobs!

I had to check where Wisconsin stacks up. Darned if we don't make California look like misers.

Our under-compensated state employees make $16,974 more than private sector. And because WI private employees make significantly less than those in California, our discrepancy is 45.4% more being paid to our public servants. Only Iowa is worse.

Doing some simple math, if Wisconsin state employees were only paid the national average of $6,461 more than private workers, our $6+ billion dollar deficit would quickly evaporate.

Here's the list.

Disparity in state versus private employee pay
	U.S. average	$6,461	14.7%
1	New York	($691)	-1.2%
2	Missouri	($322)	-0.8%
3	Georgia	$700	1.7%
4	Texas	$1,443	3.3%
5	Virginia	$1,823	4.0%
6	Massachusetts	$1,867	3.4%
7	Delaware	$2,154	4.7%
8	Tennessee	$2,918	7.6%
9	Maryland	$3,352	7.0%
10	Wyoming	$3,639	9.4%
11	Connecticut	$4,108	7.2%
12	West Virginia	$4,270	12.7%
13	Florida	$4,457	11.3%
14	New Hampshire	$4,585	10.6%
15	South Carolina	$4,651	13.3%
16	North Carolina	$5,269	13.7%
17	Arkansas	$5,535	16.6%
18	Louisiana	$5,543	14.7%
19	Washington	$5,893	12.8%
20	Arizona	$5,919	14.4%
21	Nebraska	$6,083	17.2%
22	New Mexico	$6,135	17.1%
23	Hawaii	$6,357	15.7%
24	Kentucky	$6,472	18.0%
25	Pennsylvania	$6,511	15.4%
26	Mississippi	$6,853	21.5%
27	Oklahoma	$7,188	20.5%
28	Indiana	$7,266	19.7%
29	North Dakota	$7,387	22.6%
30	Kansas	$7,490	20.4%
31	Alabama	$7,822	21.3%
32	Oregon	$9,015	23.3%
33	Illinois	$9,522	20.3%
34	Alaska	$9,526	21.5%
35	Utah	$9,962	27.1%
36	New Jersey	$10,316	19.5%
37	South Dakota	$10,336	33.0%
38	Maine	$10,473	30.2%
39	Colorado	$10,812	24.1%
40	Nevada	$12,006	28.0%
41	Michigan	$12,276	28.7%
42	Montana	$12,589	39.2%
43	Minnesota	$13,153	30.3%
44	Ohio	$13,297	33.9%
45	Vermont	$13,321	37.0%
46	Idaho	$13,593	40.9%
47	Rhode Island	$15,469	37.7%
48	California	$16,746	33.4%
49	Wisconsin	$16,974	45.4%
50	Iowa	$23,027	65.8%