Weaknesses In Left Wing Studies Supporting Public Unions

See The Left and the Public Pay Debate at the AEI blog by Andrew Biggs. He criticizes "a study written for the Center on State and Local Government Excellence by University of Wisconsin professors Keith A. Bender and John Heywood." Excerpts:

"1. It effectively compares public-sector salaries only to pay for unionized private workers, not all private employees. Given that only 7 percent of the population is unionized and that allowing public-sector workers to unionize is a policy decision, this isn’t exactly an apples-to-apples comparison to the typical private-sector employee.

2. The study underestimates the value of defined-benefit pensions because it doesn’t account for the more aggressive funding rules of public pension plans. For a given level of guaranteed retirement income, state and local pensions put aside around one-third less money today than a private 401(k) plan would. Since the Bender-Heywood study measures what employers contribute today, not what employees eventually receive, it significantly understates public-sector pension benefits.

3. Their study omits the value of retiree health benefits. For someone like Professor Shaiken at the University of California, this is worth about an extra 10 percent of pay.

4. Their study ignores job security. Jason Richwine and I calculated that for California state employees, their additional job security is worth about an extra 15 percent of pay."