The average salary of a state worker is $59,717 annually, up 8 percent since 2006, according to a new report. The report, from the Empire Center, a conservative think tank, also found that the average cost of a state worker to taxpayers (salary plus benefits and payroll taxes) is $86,585 a year.
That money is being spent on a work force that has grown by nearly 8,000 since 2006, to just under 240,000 workers.
Much of that increase happened last year, in the first year of then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer. GOv. David Paterson announced a hiring freeze in April, less than a month after taking office.
Most state-worker unions have signed contracts within the year that call for 13 percent raises over four years.
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