Quote:
Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc
So... I kind of get really fucking sick and tired of all the bitching about what public employees make. I'm not paid a quarter of what it's worth to put up with the shit I see on my job.
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A lot of people put up with work I don't think I could ever handle. But I'm not convinced by arguments for better pay for public employees that rest on such "it's hard work" reasoning.
The job of government in determining how much to pay its employees is not to do the impossible challenge of putting a dollar value on how hard the work is. The task is to determine the minimum amount necessary to attract the necessary talent.
People think, "I love my kid's teacher so much--she deserves a lot more money!" But the state should offer her just enough to keep her--not try and fulfill some sense of cosmic justice in rewarding good people. Of course, that may mean paying her more than other teachers since she might have better outside options; but if you know she'll stay for $50k, paying more is a waste of taxpayer money that may well crowd out other good that could be done.
The big problem with a lot of public employee pay is that they're being paid a lot more than would have been necessary to have them take and keep the job. Very hard to quantify, of course, but there's plenty of suggestive evidence. For example, massive raises for public employees near retirement is extremely hard to explain as a necessary payment to retain talent (which is why it's practically nonexistent in the private sector).