The perennial ranking of Missouri's state employees as being among the lowest paid state workers in the nation comes as no surprise to most on the state's payroll. The asterik that usually follows the statement is their benefits are top drawer.
But has the state's benefit package kept pace with other public and private employers?
Missouri's spending on state employee benefits has increased duirng the past five years, but the trend isn't exclusive.
Missouri pays a fixed rate of $11,722 for health care costs and covers around 45.3 percent of other benefit costs per employee, according to 2019 data.
It's an increase since 2016, when the state was paying 39.91 percent of benefit costs per employee.
In 2021, state government employees can expect to pay $1,048 each month toward health insurance and 37.96 percent of their annual salary for other benefits, according to the Office of Administration's Division of Personnel.
An hourly rate of how much Missouri pays for state employee benefits was not available.
Missouri's trend is similar to that of state and local governments across the country.
Nationally, state and local government employers were paying an average of $16.48 in benefits per employee per hour in 2016. It has since risen to $20.50, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Private industry is also following the trend.
Private companies were paying an average of $9.73 per hour for benefits in 2016. Today, that cost has climbed to $10.76 per hour, according to BLS data.
Throughout the country, private and state and local government employers have seen total employee compensation costs - which includes salary, wages and benefits - rise nearly 25 percent in the past decade.
While private industry's compensation costs have steadily risen with state and local governments' costs, the total amount private employers pay lags behind their counterparts in state and local government.
In 2019, the state hired CBIZ Talent & Compensation Solutions to conduct a compensation and benefits study comparing Missouri with private industry employers.
While the report found the state needed to resolve deficiencies in salary or wage compensation, Missouri's benefits were above-market when compared to the broader labor market - particularly in the areas of paid time off and retirement benefits.
"For lower-level jobs, the above-market benefits generally overcome the deficiencies of below-market base pay and zero bonus opportunity; however, this is not the case for many higher-level jobs," the study noted.
Missouri groups its benefits into four major categories: insurance, retirement, leave and other benefits.
Paid time off
New state employees earn three weeks of paid annual leave, three weeks of sick leave and 12 paid holidays each year.
Annual leave is accrued at five hours per pay period, but the longer an employee stays employed by the state, the more they earn each pay period. Employees who have been with a state agency for 10 years earn six hours per pay period and those who have 15 years with the state earn seven hours per pay period.
For sick leave, there's no limit to the amount an employee can accumulate and unused leave can be converted to credited service upon retirement.
State employees can also apply for supervisor-approved paid time off under certain circumstances, such as military service, bereavement and jury duty.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, paid sick leave was available to 77 percent of private industry workers in March. Access ranged from 59 percent of workers in service occupations to 93 percent in management, professional and related positions.
Annual or consolidated leave was available to 45 percent of private industry workers in March.
Health insurance
Full-time state employees are also offered health insurance and prescription drug coverage, vision and dental insurance through the Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan.
Beginning in 2019, MCHCP offered two preferred provider plans and a Health Savings Account plan for active employees and non-Medicare retirees. The state also switched to third-party administrator Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield on Jan. 1, 2020.
The Health Saving Plan option allows employees to pay for qualified medical expenses with pre-tax dollars by opening a Health Saving Account at a local bank and making contributions up to specified limits.
Health Saving Plans have been promoted in recent years as a way to cut costs by organizations like the National Conference of State Legislatures.
The plans are consumer driven, which means they "bolster the role of consumers in seeking necessary, more affordable care - and avoid costly care and over-utilization of services," according to NCSL.
Health insurance costs are shared between the state and employee, and apply to the employee and any spouses or children.
By July of this year, Missouri state employees earning an average salary of $38,714 annually contribute 32.5 percent of their salary for health insurance by paying a monthly rate of $1,048.
In 2020, MCHCP's share of family health insurance coverage was 86 percent and state employees paid the remaining 14 percent of premium costs. For employee-only plans, the state paid 91 percent and employees paid 9 percent, according to the MCHCP 2020 annual report.
The average private industry employer in 2021 pays 66 percent of health insurance premiums and the employee pays 34 percent, and the average state and local government employer nationwide pays 71 percent of health insurance premiums and the employee pays 29 percent, BLS data suggests.
Missouri's division of costs between employer and employee is not available for vision and dental insurance, where plans are entirely paid by the employee and plans vary in cost.
Within the private industry, however, only 40 percent of workers are offered dental care and vision insurance is available to 56 percent of union workers and 25 percent of non-union workers, according to BLS data.
Retirement
The Missouri State Employees Retirement System has multiple pension plans, but new employees would fall under the MSEP 2011, which requires state employees to contribute 4 percent of their pay.
Under that plan, the average Missouri state employee earning $38,714 annually, for example, can expect to pay about $1,548 each year toward his or her retirement plan, while the state would contribute about $9,100 for the employee annually.
State employees become vested after working full-time for five years and usually become retirement eligible at the age of 67.
Missouri employees can become eligible for early retirement at the age of 62, but the monthly benefits of early retirement are reduced by half of 1 percent for each month the employee's age is younger than normal retirement age. Early retirement also requires employees to retire directly from active employment.
The earliest a state employee can retire is 55 years old. To qualify, state employees must adhere to the rule of 90 - in which the employee's age and years of service must add up to equal 90.
In the private sector, 68 percent of employees have access to retirement benefits, but only 51 percent are participating, according to BLS data.
Other benefits
Missouri offers a variety of other benefits to its employees, including free confidential counseling, worker's compensation and technical and computer training classes.
Additionally, many private companies offer entertainment, products and services at a discounted rate for Missouri state employees.