DEFINING THE BATTLEFIELD:

BLS: Public Sector Out-earns Private Sector (Steven Greenhut, September 14, 2011, Public Sector Inc.)

[A] report released last week from the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms the obvious:

Private industry employers spent an average of $28.13 per hour worked for employee compensation in June 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Wages and salaries averaged $19.81 per hour worked and accounted for 70.4 percent of these costs, while benefits averaged $8.32 and accounted for the remaining 29.6 percent. Total compensation costs for state and local government workers averaged $40.40 per hour worked in June 2011. Total compensation costs for civilian workers, which include private industry and state and local government workers, averaged $29.98 per hour worked in June 2011.

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