Ohio is struggling with double-digit unmployment, but not all workers are facing tough times. State government employees in Ohio are doing quite well. In fact, nearly 1,800 of them earn more than $100,000 per year.
The contrast couldn’t be more stark between bloated government bureaucrats and struggling private-section workers in a state with an 11 percent unemployment rate.
What’s most alarming is the rapid rise of state employees making salaries of $100,000 or more. Just look at the rapid increase over the past six years.
Thanks to public data compiled by the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, citizens have this information at their fingertips. Buckeye last week added public-sector salaries, teacher salaries, school data and state lobbyist information to its website. It’s a treasure-trove of information for citizens fed up with the growth of government.
Looking at top earners in state government and comparing them to entry level private sector jobs is poor analysis. Compare them to CEO's of corporations where they could be working otherwise. these people ALL make WAY more than this.
"But National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley says the comparison is faulty because it "compares apples and oranges." Federal accountants, for example, perform work that has more complexity and requires more skill than accounting work in the private sector, she says.
"When you look at the actual duties, you see that very few federal jobs align with those in the private sector," she says. She says federal employees are paid an average of 26% less than non-federal workers doing comparable work."
Also, "Federal jobs have more limited salary ranges than private-sector jobs, some of which have million-dollar payouts. "
So averages for private are tricky. At lower levels, the poorest paid make much less than federal employees, while those at the top make way more.