State Employee Pay Raise Could Cost Them Jobs

Arguing against a 3 percent pay hike for state employees is actually an argument in support of saving their jobs, according to an Op-Ed in The Michigan Daily.

The commentary cites a recent blog post by Paul Kersey, director of labor policy, which explained that compensation increases for state employees outpaced that of the private sector by one-third between 2002 and 2008. The author explains that rejecting this newest salary bump can save state workers' jobs. As an example he uses the 100 state troopers who were laid off last year after their union rejected a request from Gov. Jennifer Granholm for unpaid leave.

The Op-Ed also points out the disparity in the cost of benefits between public- and private-sector workers, which James Hohman, fiscal policy analyst, has examined.

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