We welcome you to JobBank USA and hope your job hunting experience
is a pleasant one. We hope you find our resources useful.
November 1, 2008
Government in Utah is shrinking as wages in the private sector increase rapidly -- at least before the economic crisis hit.
A new study released by the Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of Utah shows that despite recent U.S. Census numbers showing the government is booming and government wages are skyrocketing, that isn't the case in the state.
"Government has always been a big part of our employment sector because we haven't had the economy to wean ourselves off those government offices," said senior policy analyst Janice Houston. "As a region as a whole we've been creating more jobs in the private sector and the government shrank as a proportion."
The study shows that Utah's population growth nearly doubled the growth of government from 2002 to 2007. At that same time, private-sector wages also nearly doubled the wage increases of state and local government workers.
Utah's state government maintains a goal of increasing at 0.8 percent of the population, and the rate is currently much lower than that, said Lisa Roskelley, spokeswoman for Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. She attributes the small government growth rate and booming private sector rates to efficient government workers and incentives to businesses.
"We've been proactive about looking at areas of state government where it could be put into the private market and we've increased our appeal to the business sector to come to our state with extremely competitive tax rates and the quality of life Utah boasts," Roskelley said.
While private sector wages are increasing rapidly, government jobs still pay more, mostly due to federal government jobs based in Utah, Houston said. "The government used to be able to get people to join their ranks at lower wages because of great benefits," she said. "Now that the benefits are gone, the government is having to offer higher salaries to entice them out of the private sector."
However, that isn't the case with local government jobs. When factoring in large jumps in inflation, local government workers actually are making less than they were in 2002.
"While they actually lost ground, it's not uncommon because the inflation factor didn't kick in until 2006 and 2007. Those local jobs haven't caught up to that shock," Houston said. "With the economic downturn, government is going to take a hit. They'll have to suck it up until the next uptick when they'll have the revenue to kick it up again."
She isn't sure how the downturn will affect private sector wages, but said that before the economic crunch, private wages were set to overtake state government wages in the near future.
The U.S. Census numbers showed much larger jumps in government jobs and wages, but those numbers can be misleading, Houston said. The U.S. Census numbers are self-reported and are only a quick snapshot of figures. The center used numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks jobs and wages over time for a more complete picture, she said.
Email This Page!