Comparisons with neighbors reflect disparity in state pay

Renewed salary study committee faces bigger task

Some state employees take a lunch break in the Truman State Office Building cafeteria in Jefferson City. Missouri government employees are the lowest-paid in the nation, and a joint legislative committee will continue its work from last year, looking at employees’ total compensation and ways to improve the pay and benefits situation for state employees. Photo by News Tribune.

By Bob Watson

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Missouri’s Joint Committee on State Employee Wages now has a larger task in the next 2 1/2 years than it had last year, when its charge just was to determine if state government’s employees really are the lowest-paid in the nation and to recommend ways to improve that condition.

During this year’s debate on both the state budget and on Rep. Mike Bernskoetter’s resolution to continue the joint committee, some lawmakers said they thought a total compensation study would show Missouri government workers are not at the bottom of all states in their earnings and benefits. But other lawmakers said during this spring’s debates that you can’t spend benefits at the grocery store.

Last year, the Office of Administration provided committee members with some detailed reports showing a history of pay plans in the state, and how different kinds of raises — or lack of raises — have contributed to a “compression” problem where, in some cases, newer employees make as much or more as the longer-serving employees who trained them.

For this story, we asked OA for some comparisons they had made between Missouri and five of our eight neighboring states, of some jobs that would be common to all states. We also asked for the information at the entry-level, where a worker’s longevity of service wouldn’t be a factor.

Read additional details in our newspaper or e-Edition. Newspaper subscribers: Click on an e-Edition article and log in using your current account information at no extra charge. For e-edition help, e-mail circ@newstribune.com. Click here to purchase the full version of archived articles.

More like this story

Ed1952 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Do we really need 2 1/2 years to determine state employee's salaries are the lowest in the nation and that the benefits are eroding through increased costs? Over the past, say 10 years, how much has salaries increased compared to the cost of health insurance?

2warped757 11 months, 2 weeks ago

And who is doing this study and how much will THEY be paid!

JCLifer 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Those big salary ranges are impressive, but not so much when every employee is hired at the lowest step, and no step increases have been implemented in over a decade. New workers are paid at the same rate as employees with many years of experience, and there is no account for actual performance, education levels, or workloads assigned. Meanwhile their equals in other states get annual step increases and soon are making more than DOUBLE what the seasoned Missouri employee is paid.

JCsleeper 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Why study it some more? DO something about it!

linoge 11 months, 2 weeks ago

I peeked in on the 4th floor of the Truman Building last Saturday morning. I saw at least 75 people taking exams to get on Missouri's "Merit System" hiring register. If state worker's pay is so low, why are so many people lining up to work there? The answer is obvious: Our economy is still so sluggish that joining our nation's lowest paid state-employee workforce is looking like a really good idea. It was like that during the early 1990's also. Considering the mess President Obama inherited when he took the oath of office, I do not believe he is to blame. I think most working class people are realizing that it will take decades to repair the damage that was done to our economy during the first eight years of this century. On the bright side, during the Clinton years the Mo. Dept of Corrections could hardly find any takers for the position of COI. Now, it's not a problem.

John 11 months, 2 weeks ago

Actually, if you really want to blame a President of the United States for the state of the economy (and somehow tie that into low state employee wages -- which is laughable), blame FDR. This thread, originally about low state wages has degenerated into liber propaganda.

Or login with:

OpenID

News Tribune