merit pay

RALEIGH – The average North Carolina teacher already earns $2,700 more each year than her average peers across the country, once their pay is adjusted for cost of living and…

Adjusted for cost of living, pension contribution, and teacher experience, the state’s average teacher salary is $993 higher than the U.S. adjusted median salary and $2,733 higher than the U.S. adjusted average salary. There is little evidence that a higher average salary or better benefits will, in any significant way, improve recruitment and increase retention of teachers. A system of merit-based pay would provide an incentive for highly qualified individuals to enter and stay in the teaching profession.

RALEIGH – North Carolina rewards its state employees for longevity, not productivity, a new John Locke Foundation Spotlight report finds. That’s not a payment system that attracts or keeps…

State government needs pay its employees differently if it wants to keep the best of them. The average state employee earns as much as the average employee nationally, but across-the-board pay raises fail to reward employees for performance. Employees who choose to work for the state are more risk averse and may stay despite a lack of productivity. But these employees merely substitute unseen political risk for visible market risk. The General Assembly should consider more pay for performance and portable benefits for state employees.