New Report Finds State Employee Wages Still Far Below Market Rates

A new Market Pay Report recently released by the state has found that state employees are still earning well below the market rates for similar positions in their fields. In a response to the report on Wednesday, the Maine Service Employees Association (MSEA-SEIU 1989) wrote that while the Mills Administration has done better than prior administrations, it still hasn't made made real progress in closing the pay gap between state workers and employees in the broader labor market.

The report found that state workers are now earning 86 percent of the market rate, slightly up from 85 percent in 2020. However, union officials argue that the gap is likely much larger due to a skewed methodology that overrepresents job classifications that already received market pay adjustments. The union says that the state also failed to obtain data from a sufficient number of competitor employees.

In a letter to the Maine Legislature’s Appropriations Committee, the union pointed out that the report defines the pay gap at the lower edge of market competitiveness, or 95 percent of the market average. It called the pay gap formula a "transparent effort to move the goalposts” and should be based on the market average. While the report found that certain state employee classifications earn as little as 61 percent of the market average, it also included salaries for other classifications that are above the market average. The union argues that the state’s strategy of providing across the board wage increases is misguided and should target certain classifications that are below market rates.

The report also found that the gap between state employees and the private sector has actually increased since 2019, with private sector compensation growing by 26.3 percent while Maine state worker compensation increasing by 21.6 percent in the same period.

“Maine State government is plagued by vacancies, with devastating effects on the public that relies on services,” wrote MSEA in a letter to the Maine Legislature’s Appropriations Committee. “The State is unable to fill vital positions to ensure that State ferries can run, that youths in state custody at Long Creek Youth Development Center are adequately served, that phone calls to Maine DHHS eligibility specialists are answered without two-hour hold times, and that the thousands of children served by the Office of Child and Family Services receive the services they need.”

MSEA also pointed out that 31 percent of the positions are vacant at Riverview Psychiatric Center, where there have been frequent staff have sustained injuries from violent assaults from patients due to low staffing,

Nevertheless, MSEA says it is hopeful progress can be made as it heads into bargaining over the implementation of the new compensation study in mid-October because the state has committed to using funding available through the salary plan during this calendar year. The state has also committed to hiring a third-party consultant to complete a comprehensive Classification Study by the end of 2025.

“If the Legislature and the State are serious about tackling this issue, then it is necessary to further fund and mandate an independent and professional market pay study to dovetail with the third-party Classification Study,” MSEA wrote.