Editorial: The Underpaid

Editorial: The Underpaid
Posted on 03/04/2019

By Oscar Velasquez

The public sector is filled with highly educated men and women helping our community improve. It is a shame that they are paid less than their private sector counterparts who some fail to have college level education.

According to research, 54 percent of public workers, state and locals, have a college education.

On the other hand, the private sector only has 35 percent of employees with a degree. This makes it harder for public workers who have taken out student loans to afford the college education.

They need to get a job that barely gives them enough money to make it through the month.

A large part of the public workforce includes police and firefighters necessary jobs to keep neighborhoods, cities, states, and the country stable. There has been a decrease in police, firefighters, and paramedic jobs across the country.

With less people wanting to be a worker in the public sector, who will do the job?

Federal, state, and local governments should work on a public sector reform. This should help improve and raise how much the average police officer who helps take crime off the street, firefighter jumping into a burning house to save a person or people, teacher that educated this countries next generation, etc.. is paid. It should also improve the benefits that a worker receives.

An example of this can be healthcare because the least the government can do is insure that a firefighter’s family is healthy and ensured while he/she risk their life jumping in situations that can affect their health and possibly take their life.

A public sector reform is needed in this country. It will bring in more workers who will either take down criminals, teach the next generation, save someone, or pull someone out of a burning house.

 It will also improve life expectancy in the US, it will bring down the crime rate in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Detroit, and make the US able to compete with other countries  and their education.