July 15, 2021
Loudoun County Employees Are Often Paid Too Little To Afford Loudoun Costs; Collective Bargaining Would Reduce Pay Disparities and Improve Services
New report provides local and regional data relevant to current discussion on public employee collective bargaining
As the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors considers allowing Loudoun employees to collectively bargain over wages, benefits, and working conditions, a new report from The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis provides insight into current pay for Loudoun employees, total compensation for Northern Virginia local government employees compared to their private-sector peers, and how collective bargaining helps close pay disparities.
“Right now, Loudoun employees are paid less than their private-sector peers and are often paid too little to afford a decent quality of life in the community they serve,” says Laura Goren, the Research Director at The Commonwealth Institute and the report author. “This likely contributes to the high staff turnover and threatens the high quality of public services that draws people to live in Loudoun.”
Right now, Loudoun employees are paid less than their private-sector peers and are often paid too little to afford a decent quality of life in the community they serve. This likely contributes to the high staff turnover and threatens the high quality of public services that draws people to live in Loudoun.
Laura Goren, Research Director at The Commonwealth Institute
The report includes a new analysis of Loudoun County employee salaries compared to the cost of living in Loudoun. Key new findings include:
- One in five County employees likely couldn’t afford to support themselves in Loudoun County at a modest yet adequate standard of living. And the majority couldn’t attain an adequate standard of living on what they are paid if they have children.
- Black, Latino/a, and Asian American employees of Loudoun County are often in lower-paid positions and could most benefit from the protections of collective bargaining.
- Turnover rates for county employees are high, which has direct costs in terms of training and recruitment, and also reduces the quality of services as fewer employees are stretched thin trying to do multiple jobs. In fiscal year 2019, there was a 10.4% turnover rate for Loudoun County. One review of 30 case studies in 11 research papers found that turnover costs employers between 16% and 21% of an employee’s annual salary.
“When we have a real voice on the job, everyone’s lives will improve — workers, residents, leadership, and more,” says Crissy Helinski, a Loudoun County employee who is quoted in the new report. “It means the ability to speak up when we know something could be done better. It means strengthening public services by improving resources and retaining staff. It means working in partnership with Loudoun County to make this a place where ALL can thrive.”
When we have a real voice on the job, everyone’s lives will improve — workers, residents, leadership, and more. It means the ability to speak up when we know something could be done better. It means strengthening public services by improving resources and retaining staff. It means working in partnership with Loudoun County to make this a place where ALL can thrive.
Crissy Helinski, a Loudoun County employee
In addition to the new findings, the report includes key findings from other recent research:
- Local government public employees in Virginia are typically paid 29.9% less than their private-sector peers with similar levels of education, age, and hours worked, one of the largest pay penalties in the country (Economic Policy Institute, June 2021).
- Public sector collective bargaining tends to reduce (while not fully eliminating) the pay penalty for public employees compared to their private-sector peers, boosting pay by 5%-8% (Brunner and Ju, ILR Review, March 2019).
- The fair and clear standards provided by unionization particularly help Black and Latino workers (Economic Policy Institute, August 2020). Women, who make up the majority of local government workers (especially in Virginia), would also particularly benefit from collective bargaining (Economic Policy Institute, June 2021).
“Since Black workers and women are also disadvantaged in the broader labor market, strengthening collective bargaining rights for local government workers should reduce racial and gender inequality in the labor force and potentially attract Hispanics and other underrepresented groups to public-sector jobs,” said Monique Morrissey in the release for the June 2021 Economic Policy Institute report, which can be found at https://www.epi.org/press/collective-bargaining-rights-help-narrow-the-pay-gap-for-local-government-workers/.
