Editorial: Don't assume public workers have it better

The following is an editorial from the News-Press in Fort Myers, Florida

A study by two economics professors from, fittingly, Wisconsin, gives support to the claims of public employees that they are not better compensated than private-sector workers.

A 2010 study of public/private sector compensation over 20 years in seven states, including Florida, concluded that public employees have consistently been compensated less overall than their private-sector counterparts.

The authors say the opposite conclusion has been wrongly reached by neglecting to take education, experience and other factors into account. The authors of "Out of Balance? Comparing Public and Private Sector Compensation over 20 Years," concluded that state workers received 11 percent less and county and city workers 12 percent less than comparable private-sector workers.

Urge our leaders not to milk public employees to plug the $3.6 billion-plus state budget shortfall.