The “Overpaid Bureaucrat”

Abstract

Compensation of public employees is a contentious issue for politicians and the general public in the United States. However, there is little empirical evidence in the literature to address claims that public servants are over-paid compared to their private sector counterparts. This research compares salaries of private sector, state, and municipal workers in Mississippi. A central hypothesis in this study is that municipal pay levels will be more competitive in core governmental functions. A second is that large municipalities will have more core functions and therefore be competitive across a broader range of job categories. This research indicates that municipal and state workers are indeed underpaid in certain occupations, but salaries are competitive in some occupational fields. However, only large cities appear to be more competitive with wages in their core functions.