Employee compensation in the state and local government sector increased at twice the private-sector rate during the 12 months ending in December, according to national data released today by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The difference between the two sectors disappeared during the fourth quarter of 2009, when total compensation costs rose slightly faster (at 0.5 percent) in the private sector than in the state and local sector (0.4 percent). However, changes in a single quarter can be misleading. In New York, for example, state workers pocketed their latest 3 percent base pay increase last April; only those on longevity “steps” who reached their hiring date anniversaries between October and December would have been recorded as receiving an added wage hike in the final quarter of 2009. In the private sector, meanwhile, many firms pay bonuses at the end of the year.
What is most striking about the data is the continuing difference in benefit costs. As shown in the table reproduced below, benefits costs for state and local workers–including vacations, health insurance and retirement benefits–are still rising twice as fast as benefit costs for private-sector workers.
You may also like
At mid-year, NY still far below most states in pandemic jobs recovery
New York has added private-sector jobs in all but three of the 38 months since the COVID-19 outbreak of March 2020—but the Empire State remains below its pre-pandemic employment level and continues to trail the national recovery.
On a seasonally adju Read More
At end of ’22, NY still near bottom in pandemic recovery
The more time passes since the spring 2020 Covid-19 outbreak, the more New York stands out among all states for the weakness of its post-pandemic employment recovery.
As of December, seasonally adjusted private employment in New York was still nearly 2 Read More
What’s behind NY’s union membership slide?
The frequency with which New York workers are choosing to belong to a union last year continued its multi-year decline. Read More
NY pandemic recovery update: climbing, but still far behind
Private employment in New York State remained more than 300,000 jobs short of the pre-pandemic level Read More
NY’s jobs recovery now strongest downstate
The Empire State's private-sector employment gains over the past year have been increasingly concentrated in New York City. Read More
The New Greenwashing – False Advertising about Green Energy Jobs
In the private sector, false advertising can get you into legal trouble. In the public sector, it’s often good politics. Read More
The debate over Medicaid home-care funding needs a reality check
The push in Albany to boost wages for home health aides is seemingly disconnected from the larger realities of the state’s long-term care system.
As they , officials in the home care industry are warning that the state faces an of in-home caregivers Read More
As leaves turn, NY’s post-pandemic recovery still has very far to go
New York was the national epicenter of the pandemic, and Governor Cuomo's "New York State on PAUSE" business shutdowns and other restrictions led, in short order, to the loss of nearly 2 million jobs in the first full month after the infection began spreading in the New York City area. Read More