In an effort to meet requirements for a transparency website [1] created by House Bill 2500 [2], the Department of Administrative Services [3] has compiled and made available state workers’ salaries.
The data [4] provided includes approximately 32,620 state workers’ salaries. Not included are employees of the Oregon University System, Oregon State Treasurer, and semi-independent agencies, temporary employees, or records protected by the courts.
Of the top three individual earners, the top two are from the Department of Human Services [5]. Both DHS workers are classified as Principle Executives and earn $231,996 and $242,004, respectively. The third top earner, from the Department of Corrections, is classified as a Clinical Director and earns $229,332.
Workers who earn $100,000 or above total 949. Those earning at least $75,000 total 3,689. The mean salary for all 32,620 state workers is $51,442. The mean for all Oregon workers, public and private, is $41,430, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics [6]. The state workers’ mean salary exceeds Oregon’s mean salary by $10,000, or 24 percent.
The top-earning agency is the Legislative Revenue Office, with an average salary of just under $100,000. The Legislative Fiscal Office and the Employment Relations Board followed closely, with an average salary of approximately $95,000. Comparatively, the Legislative Assembly earns the least with an average salary of $33,783.
The top two service-type category earners are Agency Heads and Executive Services, with mean incomes of $115,778 and $93,622, respectively. Employees unrepresented by a union earn $44,530 on average. Union-represented employees earn $47,277, six percent more than their unrepresented counterparts.
As for total agency payroll, the Department of Human Services eclipses all others. DHS has a head count of 8,923 and total payroll of $426 million. The runner-up is the Department of Corrections, with a head count of 4,161 and total payroll of $222 million. Following closely in third place is the Department of Transportation, with a head count of 4,236 and total payroll of $219 million.
Click the links below for full analyses:
All salaries in descending order [7]
Average salaries by Service Type [8]
Average salaries by Agency Title [9]
Average salaries by Classification [10]
Jacob Szeto [11] is Investigative Reporter at Cascade Policy Institute [12], Oregon’s free market public policy research organization.