Reader: No Sympathy For Government Workers
Dear Editor,
I read your article by Livia Gershon about public cuts hurting the economy (“Government Employment A Drag On Recovery,” June 6, 2011).
I have a problem feeling sorry for government employees when the cost of doing business in Massachusetts is becoming ponderous. It is costing my company $9 per hour, per employee just for health care.
Has anyone been able to ascertain how many people are employed by the federal, state and local government in Massachusetts? I cannot believe it is only 13 percent of the total people employed as your article states, but even at that, that would be seven people employed in the private sector supporting one public employee.
Public sector workers receive higher compensation, better benefits, earlier retirement and pension plans, more so than the people actually creating wealth in this commonwealth.
Here in Leominster, our property taxes were recently increased and our mayor is calling for another increase. Where will it end?
After all the government entities have taken 100 percent of our gross income, where will they get more for their insatiable appetite?
I am looking forward to the day I can retire and move to a state with fiscal responsibility.
Thomas J. DiRusso President
Anthony Tool & Die Corp., Leominster
Editor’s Note: The author cites the fact that we reported that 13 percent of the total people employed in Massachusetts are public-sector employees. This number was arrived at by some analysis by WBJ staff. The Executive Office of Workforce Development reports that the federal government employs 45,200 people in Massachusetts, while state government employs 122,900 and local governments employ 263,700. That means 431,800 people are employed by the government in the Bay State. We took that total (431,800) and divided it by the total nonfarm employment in the state, which is 3,228,000, and arrived at the 13 percent figure noted above.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments