Employer Cost Synopsis

Government Wages Plus Benefits: $61.27

Private Wages and Benefits: $43.78

Government Wages: $37.90

Private Wages: $30.76

Government hourly wages are 23.2 percent more than private workers on average.

Benefits are the real killer.

Government total compensation is 39.9 percent more than private workers.

What About Teachers?

Teachers make $52.29 per hour in direct wages. But they make a whopping $79.38 per hour in total benefits.

Benefits for teachers are an addition 52 percent of wages.

Economic Fairness

Education Week reports Biden Calls for Teacher Pay Raises, Expanded Pre-K in State of the Union

Biden called on lawmakers Thursday to "give every child a good start by providing access to pre-school for 3- and 4-year-olds," but he did not detail a specific plan to pay for universal pre-kindergarten, which he has called for in the past and included in his Build Back Better proposal that never passed the Senate.

Biden's call for giving public school teachers a raise also included no specifics. It was included in a portion of the address focused on economic fairness, which included a push to raise taxes on the highest income earners to help cover the costs of domestic policy priorities.