Item: Government workers now make more than private-sector workers in Idaho/Anne Alice Allen, Idaho Business Review

More Info: If you work for the government in Idaho, chances are you’re now making more than your private-sector counterpart. Government wages passed private-sector wages this year. Statistics from the state Department of Labor showed that the average monthly wage of $3,167 for government workers at all levels - federal, state and local - was 7.2 percent above the average for all workers in the private sector in 2009.

Question: Should government workers earn more than those in the private industry in Idaho?

• Weekend Poll: 94 of 173 respondents (54.34%) said they're underpaid when asked to describe the level of their wages. 50 of 173 respondents (28.9%) said they're adequately compensated. 25 of 173 (14.45%) said they are unemployed. 2 each answered they're paid too high or didn't know how to describe their level of compensation.
• Today's Poll (in honor of Bike to Work week): How often do you ride your bike when the weather is good?

In a half-hour meeting with Spokesman-Review employees this afternoon, Publisher Stacey Cowles announced that the paper will cut salaries 5% across the board for all managers, all non-union employees and, with their voluntary consent, all union employees. In a prepared statement, Cowles said: “The good news is that we remain a solvent, going concern as a news media organization and our just-released Belden market research shows that our readership levels have remained stable over the past four years.  The bad news is that the turbulent and unpredictable nature of the current recessionary economy generally, and the advertising and newspaper markets specifically, is forcing us to cut costs outside our usual budget cycle.” Employees who earn less that $11 per hour will be exempt from the cuts. Cowles concluded: “I cannot guarantee restoration of the reduction, but we may be able to visit this issue in a year, depending on how the economy and our business changes in that time.”

Idaho’s highest-paid state employee isn’t the governor, a university president or a key scientist - it’s Boise State University head football coach Chris Petersen.    Petersen heads the list of a record 310 Idaho state employees who now out-earn Gov. Butch Otter. The list has swelled from 284 last year, in part because Otter opted to turn down his scheduled 3 percent pay raise this year and stick with last year’s salary of $108,727. Petersen’s $806,998 salary, which comes from both state and private sources, is now more than eight times the governor’s salary/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.

Question: Should a sports coach, now matter how successful, earn 8 times as much as a state’s governor?