After yesterday’s post, I received the following comment:
The average total compensation for a Wisconsin teacher in 2010 was $75,587. (Source. Yes, it’s a biased source, but the raw data it drew from is here.)
This is a very fair comment, but one that needs to be examined. Most people are not aware of what they actually cost their employer. In fact, because most people are not accustomed to what they really cost their employers, they are often shocked at parish council meetings over how much it really costs to have a full-time priest. I can tell you that it is not unusual for an Antiochian priest to have W-2, line 1, wages of $39,500 but to cost his parish over $60,000. Hmm, how do I know? Guess! If you really want to be “shocked” look at the salaries and benefits of a Greek Orthodox priest!
But, I now work for a secular employer. So, let’s look at some of my benefits, which are not at all unusual. I will report it in terms of percentages.
1. My employer pays the employer’s share of Social Security and Medicare. In 2010 that was 7.65%.
2. My employer has a 401k type of system, which my employer will match my contribution up to 5% of my salary. Many employers have this in lieu of a more formal retirement system. In passing, when I was an Episcopal Church priest, the retirement contribution was 18%. Five per cent would actually have been considered very low only 30 years ago, even in non-union jobs.
3. I have nearly $225 every two weeks deducted for health benefits, but my employer contributes about $450 for me every two weeks. This means that my employer contributes $11,700 per year in health benefits alone. In passing, that is not anywhere near out of line. My employer has a huge number of employees, so some employer’s contribution would be slightly more since smaller employers get less of a break.
Now let’s look at that Wisconsin average teacher who earns on the average $46,390 a year. Let’s calculate roughly how much that teacher might cost the school system, given what a typical USA employee’s benefits are.
a. Social Security benefits paid by employer — $3548
b. IRA matching contribution — $2320
c. Medical benefits paid by employer — $11,700
d. Late added note: I forgot to mention sick days, which ALL employers provide. It is not unusual for an employer to encourage employees not to take sick days by cashing in a percentage of sick days if they do not use them. Other employers simply pool sick days and vacation days together into available days off. There are multiple methods of dealing with sick days. However, even 7 days of sick days can easily add another $1300 to the cost of an employee. This is what I meant about “other” benefits. One has to think about them to remember all the things that you take for granted as an employee. For those of you who are thinking of replying and saying that your boss does not provide those benefits, I am sorry to tell you three things. One, you have a bad boss. Two, this exemplifies how bosses have slowly been taking benefits away from employees while their average compensation has been increasing significantly faster than inflation. Three, just because you do not receive certain benefits does not mean that your desire should be that others have them taken away.
Without adding any other benefits, this already adds up to $63,958 (or $65,958 after sick days). That still leaves a gap of about $12,000 (less than $10,000 after sick days), but I have not added in that many employers contribute a part of dental and vision benefits, contribute a basic life insurance, etc., etc., etc. (In other words, without even any exceptional contributions by an employer, I have already shown you how easily an employee who receives $46,000 can cost over $70,000 to an employer. Now think about employees in places where there are stock sharing plans, etc., and it can quickly go over the amount mentioned in the report.)
Frankly, the report is the typical quite unfair, deceiving, and misleading report. Why unfair, deceiving, and misleading? Because when people talk about salaries, they talk about what one actually receives. Benefits are just that, the hidden benefits that each and every one of us who is not self-employed receives. They are normally NOT mentioned in any reports that have to do with salaries. So, why are they mentioned in this instance? Because it is the only possible way in which the writer of the report can have any hope of drawing any support for the Governor of Wisconsin. Were the writer of the report to have fairly listed the typical salaries in Wisconsin for people with Bachelor’s degree and above, and have listed typical employer benefits, he/she would not have been able to make their case. In effect, the report is a truth leading you to believe a lie. It is dishonesty in practice, for it leads you to believe that the teacher’s pay package is not typical of other pay packages in Wisconsin. That is hardly likely to be true. Hopefully the person who wrote that report is not claiming to be a Christian because they would fail the “truth” test. The report is spin.
thank you!
I am tired of all the bashing of public sector employees. I am a retired VA nurse. When I started at the VA, I was making much less than the private sector job I was offered. For many reasons some of them patriotic, I chose to work at the VA. In working at the VA, I had to sign that I was available for duty 24 hours a day ( andoften had to prove it by getting called in when I least expected it) and I had to agree that I would not take any other even part time employment. (Many nurses make quite a tidy sum doing part time work or private duty outside of their work hours.) Not only that, the VA did not offer some of the “flex” plans that the private sector did such as 10/4 hour days, week end alternative, etc. The entire many many years I worked at the VA, other nurses with my education and specialty (ICU) and certification (CCRN) were making at least 1/3 more than I was and often twice what I was. I am not talking hospitals across the country, I am talking of hospitals right across the street. The one particular hospital I am thinking of also offered a bunch of flex working plans, free health insurance for the employed nurse (at their hosp., but still) and substantially reduced health insurance for the families of the nurse. Their hospital cafeteria offered a discount to employees as did their pharmacy. I could go on and on.
Then there are the down sides to working for the government–such as one year the budget did not pass and there was a mandatory stoppage of government except for essential employees. Right! You guessed it–nurses are essential employees–so we were working–for nothing–and with less support personnel as they had been deemed unessential. I spent one day of this working for nothing on an icy roof in scrubs with freezing temps trying to talk a veteran from jumping. (We got him talked down and got him the treatment he needed.) While we got paid eventually when Congress passed the budget, the pay did not include extra for things like late fees for payments that had been delayed by the “no pay” days. We also had to abide by what Congress allotted the VA. Many times the budget did not allow for what we needed, so we worked more with less–not to mention the doing double shifts when our reserve and national guard nurses and doctors were called to active duty. There jobs were held as they should have been, but there was not an option to hire temporary replacements etc. Since many of the employees were people who also were serving their country in those ways, those of us who were left worked over time–and since many of us were on “salary” vs “hourly”, we did it for no extra money.
So when you think to claim government workers are in high cotton, remember the nurses, doctors, firefighters, police and etc who are out there doing what needs to be done–and often doing more with less.
Alix