How much do Pa. government workers make? More are seeing $200K+ pay

From candy to cars, the price of everything is going up — and that includes government salaries.

PennLive’s annual roundup of six-figure earners in Pennsylvania state government attracts a lot of attention — and criticism. Now, with membership in this once-exclusive “club” growing so large — approaching 12,000 employees in 2021 — it was time for a change.

So we doubled the salary threshold to focus on those with earnings of at least $200,000.

In 2022, 376 state employees had earnings that topped $200,000, according to the data collected from the governor’s Office of Administration, the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts and independent state agencies.

While the number represents a fraction of the more than 98,000 employees who work in the three branches of state government, it is 47 employees more than in 2021 and 190 more than in 2020.

Someone’s earnings reflect more than salary. It includes other forms of compensation such as bonuses, overtime, longevity payments and extra-duty pay. The source of earnings comes in many forms beyond tax dollars, including fees, tolls and tuition payments, among others. But the bottom line: It is all public money.

Reviewing a list of employees in that earnings category for last year revealed a stunning development.

What’s new: For the first time, there are state government employees who cracked the half-a-million dollars mark.

Topping the list of top earners is James Grossman, the former chief investment officer at the Public School Employees’ Retirement System who retired May 1. His earnings totaled $573,704, which included his $514,546 salary and payout for unused sick and leave.

Ringing in as the second highest earner in state government was Dr. Michael Brogna, a 32-year Department of Human Services employee who is the supervisory physician at Danville State Hospital. He had earnings of $516,724, more than double his $210,172 salary because of on-call overtime pay, quality assurance bonuses, longevity payments and other compensation.

Thirteen others have earnings that fall in the $400,000 range, according to data compiled from the governor’s Office of Administration, state courts and independent state agencies.

Bumping up earnings

According to the governor’s Office of Administration, a few factors caused compensation to rise in 2022, including pandemic-related payments and efforts to bolster employee recruitment and retention.

An Oct. 1 general pay increase and a longevity increment scheduled for January 2023 were moved up to Aug. 12 for union and nonrepresented employees to increase retention of the commonwealth’s workforce and boost recruitment with higher starting salaries, said Office of Administration spokesman Dan Egan.

Additionally, former Gov. Tom Wolf offered employees full or partial payments of up to five days of paid leave if they got the covid-19 vaccine as well as covid-19 retention bonuses for about 45,000 union-represented employees of $1,000 for full-time and $500 for part-time.

Another contributor that boosted some employees’ earnings was that the governor offered employees with excess annual leave from 2020 and 2021 the option to receive a lump sum, Egan said.

Beyond those factors, Egan said many of state government’s top-tier earners work in highly skilled and professional occupations that command higher compensation in the job market, such as managers of large institutions, physicians, psychiatrists and law enforcement professionals.

“In order to provide the level of service and state government that Pennsylvanians expect and deserve, we need to effectively compete with the private sector, other states and the federal government to attract and retain high-quality employees,” Egan said.

With 125 state government workers for every 10,000 Pennsylvanians, this state has one of the lowest ratios of state workers to population, ranked at 47th, according to the governor’s Office of Administration.

Past year comparisons

The Patriot-News first began collecting information on state government earnings in 1997. At that time, there were 546 state government employees who earned $100,000. Adjusting those earnings for inflation, that equates to $186,547 in 2022 dollars, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ inflation calculator.

In 2022, there were 1,027 state employees with earnings that topped that inflation-adjusted figure, nearly double the number from a quarter-century ago.

Who’s on the list

Former Gov. Tom Wolf made the list of $200,000-plus earners last year, ranking him as the 308th highest earner in state government although he donated his government earnings to charity. Nationally, Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial salary ranks third behind New York and California, according to data from the Council of State Governments.

Ranking higher than the former governor is Supreme Court Chief Justice Debra Todd, whose $226,530 earnings rank her with the 182nd highest earnings. The other five Supreme Court justices had earnings of $224,857, which ranks as the fourth highest nationally, according to the National Center for State Courts.

And ranking even higher from the third governmental branch is former Senate Democratic Caucus Chief of Staff Anthony Lepore. His $373,581 in earnings last year made him the state government’s 22nd highest earner.

Across state government, the agency with the highest number of $200,000-plus earners is the State System of Higher Education, which had 104 employees in that category.

Leading the list of university system earners is Chancellor Dan Greenstein, who had earnings that include his salary, auto and housing allowance that total $470,105 — the fifth highest of all state government employees.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s most recent data on public college chief executive compensation, Greenstein’s compensation ranked 137th nationally.

Other agencies with 40 or more $200,000 earners are the Department of Human Services with 61, Pennsylvania State Police with 45 and Department of Corrections with 41.

Who’s not on the list

Along with the vast majority of state government employees who make less than $200,000, Penn State, Pitt, Temple or Lincoln university employees, including their coaches, are not included in this compilation because their institutions are not considered part of state government, despite receiving millions — and in some cases, hundreds of millions — in state funding.

The average state employee salary for the majority of workers under the governor’s jurisdiction last year was $63,561, according to the governor’s workforce report. That is lower than the median household income for Pennsylvania, which according to the most recent data from U.S. Census Bureau was $67,587.

What people are saying

Marc Stier, director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, noted that despite Gov. Josh Shapiro’s executive order removing the college degree requirement from more state jobs, statistics show about 55% of state employees have post-secondary credentials compared to 35% in the private sector and that contributes to the top earners making triple the $63,465 average of the bulk of state employees.

But compared to their private-sector counterparts who hold college and advanced degrees, Stier said more educated state government workers are paid almost 25% less, according to a 2010 Economic Policy Institute study. While that study is dated, the head of the liberal-leaning policy center said he believes its findings still hold true.

A Pew Charitable Trust analysis of state and local government data backs that up. It shows that the year-over-year growth rate for hourly private-sector salary and wages in each of the past four quarters exceeded that for government jobs by the largest margin on record.

Stier shared his center’s analysis of census data showing the percentage of all public and private-sector workers in Pennsylvania earning at least $200,000 grew by nearly 8% from 2021 to 2022.

The percentage of state government workers in that earnings category last year grew by 14%, he said. Stier attributed that to “a combination of compensation jumping as labor shortages, especially for college-educated workers, developed post-covid and the state catching up after a decade of slower salary growth in the public sector.”

It’s true government is slower than the private sector to catch up to labor market dynamics, said Sinem Buber, lead economist for ZipRecruiter. It’s because the public sector has more rules and regulations when it comes to hiring people and setting their wages.

But public-sector jobs generally have more generous health care and pension packages and better job security compared to the private sector, Buber said.

“That’s why we’re seeing a little bit advantage, a little bit faster employment growth in the public sector right now because people are prioritizing job security over the pay they’re getting, given that there’s always a talk about a potential recession,” she said.

Still, seeing 376 state government employees earning $200,000 or more probably will surprise some people, said Nathan Benefield, senior vice president of the conservative-leaning Commonwealth Foundation.

“They talk about this being public service and there is this perception in state government that those in government make a lot less, but, the reality is, that’s not the case both in terms of salary as it shows and then you add the pension benefits and health care benefits,” he said. “They can make a lot more.”

Plus, he said they have more job protection and better assurances of getting increases based on the rate of inflation. “That’s not what’s happening in the private sector,” Benefield said. “They’re insulated from some of the pressures private sector faces.”

As for having to compete with private-sector employers as a rationale for the growth in $200,000-plus earnings, Benefield said there may be some truth to that, but one thing U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics back up is that people tend to leave their government job less often than private-sector jobs.

“I think part of it is this kind of protection they get,” he said. “They are well-paying and (offer) good benefits.”