Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration released a long-delayed study on state worker salaries on Wednesday. The study shows that more a quarter of the jobs surveyed, 28%, pay less than the median market wage, and 43% pay less than a key benchmark the state has used for decades.
“The report found several areas where the State is doing well and very competitive, as well as several areas that need improvement,” Department of Administration spokesperson Forrest Wolfe said via email after declining an interview request.
Nearly 3,000 state jobs were vacant at the beginning of this year. Alaska State Employees Association head Heidi Drygas, whose union represents a majority of the state's rank-and-file workers, said in an interview that the salary report offers some insight on that problem.
"It's no wonder why they're having a difficult time attracting applicants to apply for these jobs, because they simply will make more money in the private sector or in public employment in other states," she said.
A few job classes stand out as especially underpaid, according to the study. State biologists, physical scientists, wildland firefighters and economists all earn far less than the market rate. Law enforcement officials tend to earn above the market rate.
The salary study looked at more than 400 benchmark job classes, covering about half of the state’s more than 15,000 employees. It compared the salaries for those jobs to similar roles in other governments and the private sector.
State agencies have traditionally sought to align their pay with the 65th percentile- essentially paying employees a bit better than average. Compared to that benchmark, more than 40% of the surveyed jobs are underpaid. Drygas says the state’s decision to look at the median salary obscures how much the state underpays its employees.
"I think the state has done its level best to … look at it through rose-colored glasses, but when you look at the details, it's abysmal," she said. "State salaries have fallen miserably behind."
The Department of Administration says it asked for both figures in line with past practice.
“For a large employer and complex employer, such as the State of Alaska, market studies often use more than one market competitive point. This allows consideration of different market competitive frameworks,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe said state officials will review the findings of the study to determine whether salaries need to be adjusted, starting with those that are 10% or more below the market rate.
Drygas said she hopes the study spurs the state to offer more competitive wages. She said the union plans to continue a lawsuit seeking to obtain earlier drafts of the study, which the state says were not used in decision-making and are thus not public records.
