New Research: Public–Private Pay Comparisons: An Analysis of Florida

The Center has recently completed an extensive study of public and private sector compensation in Florida. The results of this study have been published in the most recent edition Compensation and Benefits Review. Click here to download a copy of the paper, or read the abstract below:

"As state and local governments attempt to manage fiscal stress created by the Great Recession, the level of compensation received by public sector workers has become an increasingly debated policy issue. A significant amount of research exists that addresses national public sector compensation trends, but relatively few state-level studies have been performed. This analysis provides a preliminary analysis of public and private sector compensation in Florida. Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau, sector-level comparisons are made between public and private sector workers within the state with regard to compensation, age and education. This sector-level comparison is then supplemented by an occupational analysis of career fields found in both sectors. The sector-level analysis suggests public sector workers in Florida are, on average, not only better compensated than those in the private sector in aggregate but are also considerably more educated and older. The occupational analysis suggests that public sector workers in Florida are in general less well-compensated than private sector workers employed in the same field, even when older and more highly educated on average."

Missed a Webinar? 2012 Archive Available.

Each year the Center for Florida Local Government Excellence and its partners provide online educational and training webinars covering a wide range of topics, such as pension reform, collective bargaining, sustainability, social media in government, and community development. Recordings of all 2012 webinar sessions are now available online on-demand and free through our online webinar archive page.