Public and Private Sector Pay Comparisons

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The New York Times offers some data to help make sense of the debate about who earns more: people in the public sector or people in the private sector?

When lumped together, it would appear that on average, the public sector earns more when benefits are included.
But they acknowledge this comparison is difficult because a greater percent of people in state and local government have college degrees than people in the private sector. As a general rule, people with higher degrees tend to earn more than those with just a high school degree.

The best analysis would compare by education level: people with high school, college, and masters degrees in the public and private sector. In social science jargon: the analysts should be controlling for educational levels.
See New York Times Data
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Research Urges Going Easy on Yourself

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NY Times Health Reporter Tara Parker-Pope asks:
“Do you treat yourself as well as you treat your friends and family?
That simple question is the basis for a burgeoning new area of psychological research called self-compassion — how kindly people view themselves. People who find it easy to be supportive and understanding to others, it turns out, often score surprisingly low on self-compassion tests, berating themselves for perceived failures like being overweight or not exercising.” see article
For many of us who have once again made a new year resolution to lose weight, this self-compassion might make a difference. She states, “Preliminary data suggest that self-compassion can even influence how much we eat and may help some people lose weight.”
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Wisconsin Budget: What’s the Truth?

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This is a variation of lies, damned lies and statistics. In the Wisconsin debate, it is politics and the budget.
The main argument for doing away for collective bargaining for the public unions in Wisconsin is because of a budget shortfall.
So– is there a budget shortfall?
Surprisingly, this is far from clear.
The Governor and pundits of all political stripes have weighed in. I found a website that claims to check the facts. It is done by the St. Petersburg Times.
Check it out: Fact-checking the pundits on Wisconsin’s budget

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Poll: Support for Public Unions

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USA Today/Gallup
Feb. 21, 2011

The question was asked: As you may know, one way the legislature in Wisconsin is seeking to reduce its budget deficit is by passing a bill that would take away some of the collective bargaining rights of most public unions, including the state teachers’ union. Would you favor or oppose such a bill in your state?

61 percent of those polled said they would oppose such a bill.

Crosstabs revealed some interesting differences in the strength of that opposition.
All age groups oppose this bill, but 75 percent of those aged 18 to 35 oppose it.

Income differences:
74 percent of those earning less than $24,000 oppse; 19 support support.
64 percent of those earning $24,000-59,999 oppose; 33 percent support.
53 percent of those earing $60,000 to $89,999 oppose; 41 percent support.
47 percent of those earning $90,000 or more oppose; 50 percent support.

The question here is why does it vary by income?

No surprises based on political ID though, although the support from Republicans, at 54 percent, is not as strong as one might think given the no compromise position taken the Wisconsin governor. Very few Democats–just 18 percent–support taking away collective bargaining rights.

It is also interesting to note that 51 percent of people who identify as Conservatives support taking away collective bargaining rights. Only 27 percent of moderates support and 18 percent of the liberals support ending collective bargaining rights.

Why such relatively weak support among conservatives? Continue reading »