A Primer on Government Pay

In the debate over public-sector pay, statistics are plentiful but seemingly contradictory. Sometimes we are told that public workers are grossly overpaid, sometimes we hear they are actually underpaid, and sometimes we are assured that no one really knows the truth. How can the average American absorb these arguments and rebuttals and counter-rebuttals? How can we make sense of what appear to be obscure statistical disagreements? Our goal here is to cut through the noise and explain the essentials.