The Illinois Policy Institute is out with a new study today that claims the average state employee in Illinois makes 23 percent more than their private-sector counterparts.
And the study says the average local government worker in Illinois makes 12 percent more than the private sector average.
As noted by Greg Hinz in an analysis of the report for Chicago Business, the averages can be misleading because public employees on average are more highly educated than private sector workers.
But Hinz says the study may be on more solid ground in observing that state and local pay levels have been growing in recent years while private sector wages have dropped, after adjusting both for inflation.