A wage gap is growing between Wyoming's public and private workers, report finds

Employees in Wyoming’s public sector have experienced the largest rate of wage and benefits growth over the private sector in the entire nation, according to a new paper from a Washington D.C. think tank.

Federal wage data compiled in an analysis released this week by the conservative American Enterprise Institute shows that Wyoming’s public sector workers earned roughly $39,000 more in combined wages and benefits than they did two decades ago, while those in the private sector experienced gains of less than $9,000 during that same period.

This widening in the gap between public and private employees was the largest in the nation during that time, and second only to Nevada in terms of relative growth.

The paper directly challenges a number of reports on the earnings gap between the public and private sectors released by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute in recent years, which have found state and local public employees receive salaries and benefits lower than those of their private sector counterparts.

Read more: https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/a-wage-gap-is-growing-between-wyoming-s-public-and/article_95be702f-9a20-520e-99e6-eb08a3819ee1.html