Missouri public sector employees are under-compensated, study says

A new report by the non-partisan Economic Policy Institute finds that Missouri’s public sector employees are less well compensated than their private sector counterparts.

Rutgers University’s Jeffrey Keefe authored the study. He found that Missouri public sector employees are more highly educated and receive more generous benefits, but their salaries are lower.

In all, public employees earn about 16% less than similarly educated private sector employees with comparable jobs.

“That number is larger for state employees than it is for local government employees. State employees earn 23.9% less, whereas local government employees earn 10.2% less than comparable private sector employees,” Keefe says.

Keefe attributed the high education level of Missouri public employees to the large number of teachers who are required to hold a college degree. He also believes that many low to mid skill public sector jobs have been privatized out of government.

Jacob McCleland, KRCU

Posted in: Economic Policy Institute,Jacob McCleland,public employees