Date: 2|16|2011
How Private Sector and Public Sector Benefits Compare
February 16, 2011-Today the Assembly may vote on the budget repair bill that has generated massive protests in Madison by public sector employees and their unions. The uproar is over the fact that the bill would have government workers contribute five percent toward their pensions, about the national average, and pay 12 percent of the cost of their healthcare, about half the national average.
photo by cbsgroup
To help in the debate, here is a list of some of the comparisons between the benefits and cost of those benefits, of public and private sector employees:
- Currently state employees pay between 4% and 6% of their health care costs.
- Currently most state employees contribute nothing to their pension.
- The average employer contribution for private sector retirement plans is 5.3% of payroll. The employer portion of the contribution for the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) ranges between 10.55% and 13.3% of payroll (WPRI report: The Imbalance Between Public and Private Pensions in Wisconsin).
- The Milwaukee Public School system spends up to $26,846 per year to provide family health insurance coverage for teachers. The nationwide average for family health insurance coverage for all public and private employers is only $13,770 (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sept 12, 2010 article entitled: Public workers’ generous benefits come at a price).
- Nationwide, all public and private employees pay an average of 29% of their annual health care premiums. Milwaukee Public School teachers pay only 8% on average. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Sept 12, 2010 article entitled: Public workers’ generous benefits come at a price).
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Discussion | 1 Comment on "How Private Sector and Public Sector Benefits Compare"
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Dohnal said
Feb 17, 2011 at 4:54 AM
Great article, will use it in Conservative Digest