NY public worker wages top private sector: study
Posted on: Saturday, 2 September 2006, 23:24 CDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Public employees who work for New York State or its local governments earn more each year than their private sector peers in 51 of the state's 62 counties, according to a study released on Sunday.
Not surprisingly, the pattern was reversed in Manhattan, thanks to its banks and brokerages, law, accounting and media companies and their higher salaries.
The average 2005 salary for a Manhattanite was $92,269 in 2005, according to the report by the Empire Center. The center is a project of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank.
That paycheck was almost double the average state government salary of $48,741. Local governments paid a little less than the state: $45,341 on average.
Private employers have not added back all of the 300,000 jobs they lost between 2000 and 2003 due to the September 11 attacks and the stock market's declines. But there are more public sector jobs than ever.
Private sector employment peaked in late 2000 at 7.2 million jobs. By July, the total was still 0.6 percent below the July 2000 level, the study said.
The ranks of state government workers had climbed by 0.2 percent and local governments had boosted their staffs by 2.9 percent.
New York state alone now employs around 180,000 people, according to Scott Reif, a spokesman for the Division of Budget.
Gov. George Pataki, a Republican angling for the presidential nomination, is not seeking a fourth term as governor in November.
"Given the findings in today's report, we think it is important that the next governor keep in place Governor Pataki's accomplishments in reducing the size of the State's work force by 20,000 positions," Reif added in a statement.
New York state's work force is distinct from the rest of the nation in at least one key area, according to the study.
The number of state and local government workers who belong to a union is at an all-time high of more than one million. One of every eight New York workers is a unionized government employee, the study said. The national average is only one in every 19 workers.
Source: REUTERS
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