Government Unions and their Salaries and Benefits

Here is an interesting article, published in 2005, on government workers and their benefits:

http://www.city-journal.org/html/15_4_taxpayers.html

Astonishingly, the average state and local government employee now collects 46 percent more in total compensation (salary plus benefits) than the average private-sector employee, according to the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Wages average a hefty 37 percent higher in the public sector, but the differences in benefits are even more dramatic. Local governments pay 128 percent more, on average, than private employers to finance workers’ health-care benefits, and 162 percent more on retirement benefits.

The Conspiracy Against the Taxpayers
by Steven Malanga
City Journal, Autumn 2005