In a new American Enterprise Institute (AEI) study on public employee pay in Wisconsin, AEI resident scholar Andrew G. Biggs and Jason Richwine, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, compare the salaries and benefits received by state and local government employees in Wisconsin to those received by private sector workers with similar education and experience.

They find that:

• Fringe benefits: after Act 10 (Wisconsin's collective bargaining law), Wisconsin state workers receive health benefits more than twice as valuable and pension benefits more than 4.5 times as valuable as what workers in large private firms receive.
 
• Total compensation (salary plus benefits): before Act 10, Wisconsin state employees received total compensation (salary plus benefits) about 28 percent higher than comparable private sector workers. After Act 10, public employee compensation is about 22 percent higher.
 
• In dollar terms, the average Wisconsin state worker after Act 10 receives total compensation including benefits of $81,637 approximately versus $67,068 for a similarly-skilled private worker -- a difference of $14,569.

The study is available here.

Andrew Biggs is available for interviews and may be reached at andrew.biggs@aei.org or 202.862.5841.

For additional help or for other media inquiries, please contact Veronique Rodman at vrodman@aei.org or 202.862.4871.