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State Workers in NY Among Highest Paid in the Nation, Report Shows
December 17th, 2011
by Dr. Joseph Stefko
New York State employees earned $55,662 on average in 2010, coming in second on a list ranking states by how highly their workers are compensated. In first place is New Jersey, where the average state employee salary was approximately $56,179 in 2010. California ranks third, with $53,926.
The data come from an analysis of recently released U.S. Census of Governments data by Govistics, a project of the non-profit Center for Governmental Research based in Rochester. The tables show state rankings by per worker gross payroll in 2010, change in per worker payroll from 2009 to 2010, and per capita gross payroll in 2010. The full tables can be accessed by following this link.
State workers in Alaska, Maryland, and Connecticut completed the list of states with average earnings over $50,000. Of these six top-paying states, New York’s state workers saw their paychecks rise the most, up 3.4% from 2009. Only one – Connecticut – saw a reduction in average gross pay from the previous year (-5%).
Govistics also looked at state payroll cost on a per capita basis. Alaska, Hawaii and Delaware—states with smaller populations—topped that list. Florida, Arizona and Georgia had the lowest per capita costs. Between 2009 and 2010, four states—Pennsylvania, Texas, Wyoming and South Dakota—increased per capita state payrolls by more than 6% while 24 states actually cut per capita gross state payrolls. Four—Hawaii, Connecticut, Delaware and Indiana—cut by more than 5%.
Everyone seems to want cheaper government—but as the cost of government is mostly in salaries, cheaper government only comes from cutting the number of public workers or trimming average pay. This new data release opens a window into comparative state-level cost per public employee, which is important considering the nationwide focus on public employee costs.
While combative governors put Wisconsin, Ohio and New Jersey into the national spotlight, many states face critical budgetary decisions in the coming year –New York, California, Rhode Island, Illinois and others. Budgets are just arithmetic—deficits can only be resolved by adding revenue or cutting cost. And cost cutting can’t ignore state worker payrolls.
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Dr. Joseph Stefko is Director of Public Finance for the Center for Governmental Research (CGR).
January 25th, 2012 at 04:05 PM Among the highest in the nation? Sure, that's because the cost of living is through the roof...not to mention the property taxes! We get paid less than our counterparts in the private sector, why work for the state? The benefits are supposed to be good, but not when this governor gets done. New pension tier, furlough, zero pay increase for 3 yrs...
January 25th, 2012 at 06:48 PM You say State Salaries make up most of the budget and we must cut workers? The total cost of state employee compensation makes up 15 percent less of the total state budget then it did in SFY 2000-01; decreasing from 16 percent of the total state budget to 13.6 percent. Since 2008, 4,500 state employee positions have been eliminated. The number of state workers per capita in NY is 32 percent lower than the national average.
January 25th, 2012 at 08:32 PM How can you make such a broad statement that most of the cost of government is salaries and not support it with any data? In NYS, the cost of salaries is 8.6% of the total state budget. Spending for programs is the lion's share of the budget, such as welfare benefits, roads, bridges, etc.
January 26th, 2012 at 06:45 PM By stateworkers Dr Stefko means.. Politicians too (Your assemblyman make $80-100,000 per year & are considered part time too). By State workers he means Commissioners, Assist and Commissioners, Deputy commissioners, CIO's, Directors, Deputy Directors & all those other politically appointed positions that have $100,000 plus salaries.. I have seen so many layers added to the top in the past ten years there is no one to do the day to day real work. Go to NYS Open Book and see what Dr Stefko got paid for his "study".