A report released today challenges the perception that New Jersey public workers are better paid than their private sector counterparts.

Taking into account hours worked, wages and benefits, Professor Jeffrey H. Keefe of the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations found that total compensation for private and public sector workers in the Garden State is about equal.

“New Jersey public employees, both state and local government employees, are not overpaid, but neither are they under compensated,” wrote Keefe in the report for the Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank based in Washington, D.C.

New Jersey’s public sector workers, both for state and local governments, make an average of $56,694 annually, while private sector workers make $61,252.

Download the full report at http://aftrutgers.org/downloads/BriefingPaper270_final.pdf
Read full story at Rutgers report finds compensation for N.J. private, public workers is roughly equal

Published: Friday, July 30, 2010, 1:09 PM
Matt Friedman/Statehouse Bureau