State Employee Pay Falls Behind

Employee Pay Raises Lower Than Inflation Rate

LABELLE, FL. -- Salaries for state government professionals increased 2.4% from 2007 to 2008. This increase, which was the average across the 45 occupations surveyed, was less than the 4% inflation rate for the time period surveyed, and significantly less than the previous year's average increase of 5.7%.

It also was lower than the increase in overall state spending for Fiscal Year 2008, estimated at 5.1% by the National Association of State Budget Officers. For the ninth consecutive year, an AFT study shows that the salaries of most state-employed professionals trail those of their private sector peers. This year, private sector salaries exceed state employee salaries in 20 of the 24 job classifications in which comparisons were made.