Editor's Note: This article contains mistaken interpretations of the study methodology.
First, there is no need for cost-of-living adjustment of the study results because state employees in each state are compared only to private sector employees in the same state.
Second, there is confusion of job descriptions, which the study does not compare, with employee characteristics, on which the study focuses. For example, judges can be compared to lawyers in private practice in terms of legal education and legal experience, etc. It is employee characteristics which have a market value, not the job.
A new study shows that Connecticut’s state employees receive the highest combined pay and retiree benefits nationwide – significantly more than what is earned in the private sector – and that the state has significantly underfunded those pension plans for more than a decade.
“Connecticut’s high and severely underfunded state employee compensation leaves the state particularly vulnerable to adverse financial and/or economic conditions. It is in the interest of the state, its citizens and active and retired state employees to reduce this risk,” wrote Andrew Biggs, who authored the report, which was released in February.
Biggs, who has a PhD in government from the London School of Economics, is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank based in Washington DC. The report was overseen by The Townsend Group International, LLC, a financial strategy firm in Greenwich, and commissioned by the Nutmeg Research Institute.
Biggs discussed the findings in his report during a Zoom conference call with a number of state representatives — about 22 Republicans and three Democrats — that was hosted by Red Jahncke, president and CEO of The Townsend Group, on March 22.
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