Are government jobs really that great?
I've been reading a lot of financial blogs, and one theme keeps coming back: the belief that 1) there are more government jobs now than before, and 2) government jobs pay more than private sector jobs.
In this article, Michael Rozeff starts out by saying that wealth creation all comes from the private sector. He argues that California is going backwards because tons of manufacturing jobs have been lost (and that they were higher-paying productive jobs), and tons of government jobs have been created (um, also higher-paying). I noticed he didn't include a plot of the service jobs. The ever-astute Mr. Rozeff shows a plot of the number of government jobs in California from 1990 to 2009, from which I calculate a 20.7% growth over those 19 years. Wikipedia shows that the population of California increased from 30M in 1990 to 37M in 2009, or 24.2%. So there are actually fewer government jobs per capita than before. Ooooh, and Mr. Rozeff is a professor, too!
Speaking of professors, Mike Shedlock must have some weird idea of how much professors earn. He refers to the "bloated salaries and pension benefits of professors" and writes that "public salaries and benefits are far greater than the private sector.". I thought there were more examples in his posts, but I could only look back 3 weeks---that guy writes a lot! This doesn't match with what I notice, though. Most folks that I know who are in the public sector earn less (sometimes far less) than they would in industry. It's especially true of PhDs. I know how much professors make, and it's far less than they would at a corporation. They choose to become professors for the prestige and the freedom to pursue their own research (and not a freedom to not work, as many non-professors believe). Government is not growing out-of-control.
Ah-hah. Here are some numbers. PDF from Center for State and Local Government Excellence. Yes, Federal individual annual earnings are more than in the private sector. But state and local government average earnings are very similar. Federal employees, though, are significantly older than those in the private sector (39% over 50 vs. 24%), and public sector employees of all stripes are better educated (40% to 49% with Bachelor's degree or higher vs. 25% in private sector. I guess that accounts for the wage difference. Oh, it does. Later in that paper, we see that similarly-educated people earn the most in the federal government until you get to post-grads, when industry pays better. At all educational levels, state and local government pays less or similar to industry.
I am trying to find a plot of total public sector wages vs. total wages for the US. I recall seeing it recently, and the curve was *flat* going back 20+ years. Need to find! There it is! "Percentage of Non-Farm Payrolls in Government and Healthcare" varied from 16% to 19% between 1970 and now.
In this article, Michael Rozeff starts out by saying that wealth creation all comes from the private sector. He argues that California is going backwards because tons of manufacturing jobs have been lost (and that they were higher-paying productive jobs), and tons of government jobs have been created (um, also higher-paying). I noticed he didn't include a plot of the service jobs. The ever-astute Mr. Rozeff shows a plot of the number of government jobs in California from 1990 to 2009, from which I calculate a 20.7% growth over those 19 years. Wikipedia shows that the population of California increased from 30M in 1990 to 37M in 2009, or 24.2%. So there are actually fewer government jobs per capita than before. Ooooh, and Mr. Rozeff is a professor, too!
Speaking of professors, Mike Shedlock must have some weird idea of how much professors earn. He refers to the "bloated salaries and pension benefits of professors" and writes that "public salaries and benefits are far greater than the private sector.". I thought there were more examples in his posts, but I could only look back 3 weeks---that guy writes a lot! This doesn't match with what I notice, though. Most folks that I know who are in the public sector earn less (sometimes far less) than they would in industry. It's especially true of PhDs. I know how much professors make, and it's far less than they would at a corporation. They choose to become professors for the prestige and the freedom to pursue their own research (and not a freedom to not work, as many non-professors believe). Government is not growing out-of-control.
Ah-hah. Here are some numbers. PDF from Center for State and Local Government Excellence. Yes, Federal individual annual earnings are more than in the private sector. But state and local government average earnings are very similar. Federal employees, though, are significantly older than those in the private sector (39% over 50 vs. 24%), and public sector employees of all stripes are better educated (40% to 49% with Bachelor's degree or higher vs. 25% in private sector. I guess that accounts for the wage difference. Oh, it does. Later in that paper, we see that similarly-educated people earn the most in the federal government until you get to post-grads, when industry pays better. At all educational levels, state and local government pays less or similar to industry.
I am trying to find a plot of total public sector wages vs. total wages for the US. I recall seeing it recently, and the curve was *flat* going back 20+ years. Need to find! There it is! "Percentage of Non-Farm Payrolls in Government and Healthcare" varied from 16% to 19% between 1970 and now.