State and Local Government Productivity and the Private Sector

1978 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Scott Fosler
2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maury Gittleman ◽  
Brooks Pierce

Are state and local government workers overcompensated? In this paper, we step back from the highly charged rhetoric and address this question with the two primary data sources for looking at compensation of state and local government workers: the Current Population Survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Employer Costs for Employee Compensation microdata collected as part of the National Compensation Survey of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In both data sets, the workers being hired in the public sector have higher skill levels than those in the private sector, so the challenge is to compare across sectors in a way that adjusts suitably for this difference. After controlling for skill differences and incorporating employer costs for benefits packages, we find that, on average, public sector workers in state government have compensation costs 3–10 percent greater than those for workers in the private sector, while in local government the gap is 10–19 percent. We caution that this finding is somewhat dependent on the chosen sample and specification, that averages can obscure broader differences in distributions, and that a host of worker and job attributes are not available to us in these data. Nonetheless, the data suggest that public sector workers, especially local government ones, on average, receive greater remuneration than observably similar private sector workers. Overturning this result would require, we think, strong arguments for particular model specifications, or different data.


ILR Review ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 610-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale Belman ◽  
John S. Heywood ◽  
John Lund

Many studies have examined the influence of union density (union members as a percentage of all workers) on earnings in the private sector, but few such studies have looked at the public sector. Using data from the 1991 Current Population Survey, this study estimates the determinants of earnings for state and local government employees in both the union and nonunion sectors. The extent of public sector unionization appears to be positively correlated with earnings for both state and local government workers and for those covered and not covered by collective agreements. Although the effect for non-covered employees is smaller than that for covered employees, both effects are larger than those typically found in similar estimates for the private sector. The authors also find that bargaining structure has some influence on earnings, with the most consistent effect being a positive influence of arbitration on the earnings of local government workers.


2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-277
Author(s):  
Yusuf Baktir ◽  
Aminata Sillah

The purpose of this article is to illustrate how changes in institutional environment may impact veteran volunteering. We argue that veterans are likely to adapt to new institutional environment as they start working for different sectors such as private, public and nonprofit. Findings suggest that regardless of the sector of employment, veterans are more likely to volunteer than non-veterans. Additionally, veterans in the federal government, nonprofit sector and those who are self-employed are more likely to volunteer than veterans working in the private sector. However, no difference exists between veterans in the local government, state government and the private sector. Inversely, state and local government employment increases the likelihood of volunteering for the non-veterans, but federal employment has no influence. This study aims to fill the gap in our understanding of institutional environment and its impact on veteran volunteering. Implications for practitioners and future research are discussed at the end.


Author(s):  
V. V. Vagin ◽  
N. A. Shapovalova

The article is devoted to the actual issue – institutional analysis of initiative budgeting and territorial public selfgovernment, as well as the possibility of their integration. Over the past few years, a system of civil participation in budget decisions has been built in Russia, the regulatory framework of practices has been created, thousands of employees of state and local government bodies have been trained, project centers have appeared for ensuring development of initiative budgeting. Citizen participation in budget decisions can significantly accelerate the development of the lower level of local government. Initiative budgeting is an innovative instrument of public finance and at the same time a social technology allowing for the real involvement of citizens in the issues of state and municipal governance. Initiative budgeting development programs make it possible to transfer financing of projects aimed at solving local issues with the participation of citizens onto a systemic basis. The results and materials of this study can serve a foundation for theoretical understanding of the institutional development of public finances at the regional and local levels. At the same time, this practical area that was intensively developing in recent years requires deep institutional analysis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-77
Author(s):  
Dale L. Flesher ◽  
Craig Foltin ◽  
Gary John Previts ◽  
Mary S. Stone

ABSTRACT Both the business media and the popular press have emphasized the underfunding problems associated with pension funds that are set aside for state and local government workers, a group that also includes teachers and professors at state-affiliated colleges and universities. The realization that pension funds are typically underfunded stems from the fact that the accounting standards associated with state and local government employee pension funds have led to greater transparency since 2011. This paper examines, explains, and interprets the historical development over the last 70 years of accounting standards for state and local government pension funds in the United States. Changing accounting standards, along with economic and social change, have led to consequences such as employers transforming their pension programs to avoid substantial costs and significant liabilities, for example by changing from defined benefit to defined contribution plans.


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