Government salaries have received significant interest in recent months

by Kate Piercy The Illinois Policy Institute has highlighted various instances where Illinois government employees are paid above national averages and much of the time land in the highest earners rankings. Our legislators, allexecutive officers, including the governor, and judges, make some of the highest salaries compared to counterparts nationwide. The Wall Street Journal today discussed President Obama’s recent...

by Kate Piercy

The Illinois Policy Institute has highlighted various instances where Illinois government employees are paid above national averages and much of the time land in the highest earners rankings. Our legislators, allexecutive officers, including the governor, and judges, make some of the highest salaries compared to counterparts nationwide.

The Wall Street Journal today discussed President Obama’s recent decision to freeze all civilian federal employees’ pay and high federal employee pay compared to the private sector:

Mr. Obama proposed a two-year pay freeze for all civilian federal employees, a move that will save taxpayers $2 billion in fiscal 2011 and $28 billion over five years. (Congress must approve it.) As cost-cutting goes, this is modest: The freeze doesn’t extend to new hiring, bonuses or step increases. It doesn’t even match the three-year freeze recommended by the President’s deficit commission. But it is more than this Administration has ever been willing to consider, and it suggests that Mr. Obama, post-midterm-shellacking, realizes he must show some willingness to restrain the growth of government.

According to recent analyses by USA Today, total compensation for federal workers has risen 37% over 10 years—after inflation—compared to 8.8% for private workers. Federal workers earned average compensation of $123,000 in 2009, double the private average of $61,000. Unions like to argue that federal jobs are unique, yet in occupations that exist both in government and the private economy—nurses, surveyors, janitors, cooks—the federal government pays 20% more than private firms.

It appears the questions and increasing public alarm regarding government employee salaries are not going away anytime soon. More and more citizens in Illinois and nationwide are asking if these government salaries are reasonable, leaving many thinking, “No.”

Increased transparency has also brought about more public awareness of high government salaries, which is a positive result of transparency policy, and the heightened public awareness has started to make an impact on decision-makers.

What will be next? The public and media need to keep the pressure on, and we may start see