Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Survey: State workers’ pay is low

CARSON CITY -- Salaries of state workers are about 20.6 percent lower than salaries in Nevada's private sector and the pay of employees has not kept up with the consumer price index, a new state survey indicates.

The state Personnel Division said Wednesday it sampled the pay of Nevada employers and also the salaries and benefits packages of state workers in other western states to compare with Nevada state employees.

"When data from all Nevada employers and western state governments is considered as a whole, we are behind the labor market on an average by 3.3 percent," the biennial survey concluded. "In comparison to western state employers, we are slightly ahead of the labor market by an average of 0.14 percent."

"The state's salaries fall behind in the Nevada marketplace with an average lag of 20.66 percent," the survey noted. The state's salary is 23.6 percent behind the Southern Nevada labor market and there is a 12.8 percent lag in Northern Nevada.

The report also says the fringe benefits package provided to Nevada state employees is slightly more than that provided to employees of other western states. These benefits include group insurance, retirement, sick and annual leave and holidays.

The survey apparently did not compare the benefits of state employees to the benefits of private sector employees in Nevada.

But Carole Vilardo, executive director of the Nevada Taxpayers Association, said it is difficult to draw many conclusions from state to state comparisons because of the variables such as cost of living, income taxes and other items.

Generally speaking, Vilardo said benefits of state workers are greater than the private sector. For instance, she said, state workers can carry over their unused annual and sick leave from year to year. The result being that many long-time state employees receive months of pay after they are no longer working for the state.

"That is not standard in the private practice," Vilardo said.

Retirement benefits for state workers also are generally greater than in the private sector, she said. The state workers have a "defined benefit," meaning they are guaranteed a set amount in their pension. Private sector employees with 401k retirement plants don't have a guarantee as to what they will earn.

Also, Nevada taxpayers pay for all of the cost of the health insurance benefits for a worker and that totals out to an average of $5,948 per employee annually. Many, if not most, private companies require an employee to contribute part of the premium for insurance.

Nevada state employees also receive at least one holiday -- Nevada Day -- that few private sector employees are given.

Nevada pays an average of $20,948 for each employee for benefits compared to $20,622 in western state employment, while major local governments in Nevada pay an average of $28,897, or 37.9 percent more than the state per employee, according to the survey. Gov. Kenny Guinn is putting together his budget for the coming two years but won't say whether it includes cost of living raises for the 17,968 state workers. Many of those workers would be eligible for other types of raises other than cost of living raises, through pay increases tied to their time on the job and their performance.

Scott MacKenzie, executive director of the State of Nevada Employees Association, said his group is asking for a 5 percent cost of living raise in each of the next two years. He said he has met with Guinn, and "the governor understands this."

To give the state classified workers a 1 percent cost of living raise would cost $21 million. To allow 1 percent for state workers, university personnel and schoolteachers would take $29 million a year.

MacKenzie said he's not surprised by the results of the survey. And the low pay is going to create turnover problems for state government, he predicted.

The turnover rate for state government last July was 7.94 percent, up slightly from the 7.31 percent turnover rate reported in July 2003.

Since 1999, state workers have received a 15 percent cost of living increases in their pay but the consumer price index has risen 17.1 percent. And salaries of local governments in Clark and Washoe counties have risen an average of 22.5 percent.

The survey showed the average annual salary of state workers was at $44,493 as of last July and that trailed only California and Colorado in state wages in the west. California was tops at $54,132.

Overall it is difficult to make some comparisons. For instance, a registered nurse III earns $3,551 a month at the mid-point in her salary range but that is 19.5 percent lower than compared to all employers surveyed.

On the other hand a licensed practical nurse II at the midpoint in her salary range is paid $2,865 a month or 10.2 percent above the salaries paid across the west.

A correctional officer, in the midpoint, earns $3,117 per month or 5.1 percent more than the average paid the same position in state governments in the west. But when you compare a state correctional officer to Nevada employers, he earns 49.8 percent less than the average $4,671.

MacKenzie predicted that there will be a big turnover in correction officers who move to local governments because of the pay difference. "Those guys are not going to stay put. I bet we could lose 75 percent of the officers," he said.

Another problem area, MacKenzie said, is the Nevada Highway Patrol. The survey said a trooper II earns an average $4,053 at the midpoint of the salary range, or 15.1 percent lower than the average among all Nevada employers.

He said the Metro Police department will be hiring new officers and he predicted that many troopers will be leaving their jobs for the better opportunity.

On the other hand, mental health technicians III are paid $2,630 a month at the midpoint in the salary range, or 19.3 percent higher than similar state workers in the west.

MacKenzie said state employees need to be dealt with as a separate entity, rather than being lumped with schoolteachers and university officials. Traditionally the governor and the Legislature have given everybody a similar cost of living adjustment.

The survey compared Nevada state employee wages with 102,990 other employees in Nevada and with 452,052 state workers across the west.

State workers received an average cost of living increase of 2 percent this year but didn't get any cost of living raise in fiscal year 2004.

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