Public sector pay is not sustainable

A recent report of the Illinois Policy Institute reveals “many examples of state government workers receiving average annual wages much higher than the average statewide wage estimates for the same position ... By paying public sector employees significantly above market value wages, Illinois unnecessarily burdens the people who pay state government salaries: the taxpayers.”

At first this surprised me because I remembered hearing that the public sector paid less but had more job security. So, how did we get here? At one point, pensions and annual raises were common in both the private and public sector. But years ago the private sector companies realized that they could not afford it; most switched to 401(K) plans. For the past decade, private sector workers have not been getting raises; many lost jobs or took pay cuts. Meanwhile, public sector workers continued to get automatic raises, and kept their pension deal.

To get some data points, I found the teacher salary chart for Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 for 2008-2009 and 2010-2011. A first-year teacher’s pay has been going up 1 percent per year ($40,315 to $40,960 in two years). A first-year teacher in 2008 would be a third-year teacher in 2010, now earning $42,824 (6.2 percent more, or about 3 percent per year). In fact, it looks like every year of experience nets 3 percent more pay.

Furthermore, continuing education credits increase teacher pay. A teacher with 20 years experience and a doctorate gets $102,000. A 3 percent per year raise is approximately a 35 percent increase in 10 years. Meanwhile, those paying the bill are earning less than they did a decade ago. This is unsustainable.

Public sector unions need to accept what everyone else has been getting for years.

Jan Shaw

Wheaton