WI public sector workers earn nearly $12k more than private sector

By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Reporter

MADISON – While labor unions grouse about public sector pay, a state government job is a good gig if you can get it, according to the latest income data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In Wisconsin, state employees earned on average $53,552 in 2012, nearly $12,000 more than their fellow workers in the private sector, based on BLS data tracked by Stateline, the news service of The Pew Charitable Trusts.

The salary data was drawn from BLS’ Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages, through the fourth quarter of 2012.

While Wisconsin state employees are coming off a two-year pay freeze, on average their wages have risen about 5 percent since 2010, when the average salary was $50,977, according to the data.

Private sector wages have risen at about the same rate, from an average of $39,556 in 2010 to $41,764 last year.

“(T)he newly released 2012 data provide an interesting glimpse at how salaries for both public and private sector workers are recovering from the recession,” wrote Melissa Maynard, staff writer for Pew’s Stateline.

Read more at WisconsinReporter.com

http://bit.ly/1dfEmf0