Dakota Beacon

With the situation in Wisconsin, as well as our own public pension debate, a lot of people have emailed me asking what the real story is with North Dakota's public employee pay.

The good news for both those that ask, and me, is that USA Today has already done the analysis.  The results might shock many people people, including legislators.  (USA Today used data from the Federal Government.)

For decades, we have been told that public employee pay is embarrasingly less than in "the market."  In fact, the state legislature just last year hired a company named The Hay Group to tell them what to do with state-employee pay.  The Hay Group told the legislature that state-employees is 12% less than the average worker (not including benefits).

The important key phrase there is "not including benefits," because if benefits are included, according to the research from USA Today, public employee pay on average is $389 per year higher than the private sector.

It's not enough to raise a fuss about, that's only $32/month more.  But the greater point is that the legislature has been paying a FOR PROFIT consultant to tell them that state-employee pay is low when they really aren't - they are pretty much ON PAR - which is where they should be.