The Myth of the Selfless Public Worker
2nd May 2026
Many of us grew up in times when our public workers were deservedly revered. This was because they were positive and helpful despite being both overworked and underpaid.
Those days are long gone. Today, most public employees seem either apathetic or simply unwilling to help the taxpayers who pay their salaries. To make matters worse, today they are paid much better than their private industry equivalents.
That was colorfully announced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in a recent news release. The statisticians responsible told taxpayers that private industry employees make an average of $32.37 per hour, and that their counterparts in state and local governments make $40.24 per hour.
This difference is more significant when benefits are added to the picture. Each private industry employee receives an average of $13.68 per hour in benefits, compared to $25.04 per hour for the poor, humble public employee. That is an overall cost of $46.05 vs. $65.28 for our public employees. That is a whopping difference.
The disparity is dramatically illustrated by the Los Angeles Unified School District’s move to give starting teachers an annual pay rate of $77,000 and 15-year veterans pay of $125,156. That is before a rich benefits package and on top of the perk of having summers off. Meanwhile, the district is an overstaffed operation with shrinking enrollment that matriculates poorly educated students.
Those figures are for the period ended September 2025. You might notice that federal employees are not included in this study, meaning the pay disparity between them and private sector workers might be even worse.
Think of it this way: When you go to the Department of Motor Vehicles to be harassed and ignored, the worker behind the counter is making more than the average person pleading to escape the DMV’s dysfunctional dystopia.