State and local government paid less in occupations requiring at least an associate’s degree
For occupations typically requiring an associate’s degree or higher for entry, average wages were lower in state and local government than in the private sector. This reflects differences in the occupational mix within each education category, as well as wage differences for specific occupations. For example, occupations typically requiring a doctoral or professional degree for entry paid $51,930 less on average in state government than in the private sector in May 2020, and $43,780 less in local government as compared with the private sector. Within this education category, state and local government had higher shares of postsecondary teachers and lower shares of dentists, physicians, and surgeons.
For occupations typically requiring less than an associate’s degree for entry, state and local government had higher mean wages than the private sector—with one exception. Among occupations typically requiring some college, but no degree, local government wages were $11,720 lower than wages in the private sector on average. Teaching assistants, except postsecondary—the lowest paying occupation in this educational category—represented 86 percent of local government jobs in this category, compared with 11 percent in the private sector.