Illinois government employees take home inflated pay

Illinois’ state-government compensation ratio – in other words, what state employees are paid relative to the state’s private-sector workers – is two-thirds higher than the national average.

The common chorus of those fighting against reform to state-employee pay has always been as follows: Government workers live on lower salaries in exchange for higher benefits. Well, the results are in. While this is true in some states, it’s not true in Illinois, according to a new report from the Illinois Policy Institute.

State employees in the Land of Lincoln earn high pay and high benefits, with average salaries that are 27 percent higher than what the average private-sector worker in Illinois takes home. Illinois government workers also receive 120 percent more in benefits, costing the state dearly and unfairly imposing higher costs on Illinoisans who can’t afford them.

The flagship report of the Illinois Policy Institute’s “Budget Solutions 2016,” entitled “Right-sizing Illinois state government’s payrolls,” provides a comprehensive look at state-government payrolls in Illinois relative to the other 49 states.

The analysis found Illinois’ operating deficit, which has led to more than $5 billion in unpaid bills, would not exist if state government had simply pegged employee pay to what the average state has paid since 2000. Illinois’ state-government compensation ratio – in other words, what state employees are paid relative to the state’s private-sector workers – is two-thirds higher than the national average.

Simply paying Illinois’ state-government workers what the average state-government worker earns relative to the private sector would save taxpayers $1 billion a year.

But right-sizing employee pay is about more than addressing a gaping inefficiency in the state’s budget. It’s about correcting long-distorted expectations of what the average Illinoisan should be forced to pay for government services.

Paying salaries commensurate with performance is one thing – if some would like to make the argument that Illinois’ public services are 67 percent better than the average state, they are welcome to try – but forcing a middle-class mother to shoulder a 67 percent hike in her state income taxes in 2011 to pay for a 67 percent imbalance in state-employee pay is vicious.

It bears repeating: State employees earn double the benefits and take home salaries nearly one-third higher than Illinois’ average private-sector worker.

One hopes this dramatic disparity will prompt Illinois politicians to remove their rose-colored glasses when tackling state payrolls.