State And Local Government Employees Higher Paid Than Private Sector Workers

State and local government employees make more than their private sector counterparts with local government employees making more than their state worker counterparts.

From Journal of Economic Perspectives, "Compensation for State and Local Government Workers" by Maury Gittleman and Brooks Pierce:

the workers being hired in the public sector have higher skill levels than those in the private sector, so the challenge is to compare across sectors in a way that adjusts suitably for this difference. After controlling for skill differences and incorporating employer costs for benefits packages, we find that, on average, public sector workers in state government have compensation costs 3-10 percent greater than those for workers in the private sector, while in local government the gap is 10-19 percent. [Emphasis Added]