Video: State Worker Pay Lagging Behind Southern Counterparts

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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Mississippi government employees make an average of $9,108 less than their counterparts in the surrounding states of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee.

Mississippi State Personnel Board director Deanna Mosley tells lawmakers on Thursday that the average in Mississippi is $34,506. That compares to the four states’ average of $43,614.

Mississippi government employees’ most recent across-the-board pay raise was approved during the election-year legislative session of 2007. It’s unclear whether lawmakers will consider a raise this year. The next election is in 2015.

The Personnel Board oversees 34 percent of Mississippi government employees, including those who work for the Division of Medicaid, and the departments of health, transportation, human services and marine resources.

Employees not covered by the board work for schools, community colleges, universities, the Legislature and the governor’s office.