The Big Unsustainable Apple: With 16,000 fewer employees than in 2001, salaries are up 300%, pension costs up 700%

Marc Cenedella dissects New York City's 2012 budget summary and discovers some, eh, anomalies:

This graph is the most distressing in the entire budget deck -with declining headcount, pensions are now almost equal to what we pay current employees:

...New York City has 16,000 fewer employees than 2001...

...but spending on salaries and wages has increased from $3.8 bn to $10.8 bn; and spending on pensions has increased from $1.3 bn to $8.3 bn over that same period.

...Education expense has increase[d] at three times the rate of inflation despite the same number of teachers (113K teachers in ‘02 vs. 109k now)...

...New York City’s Pension Costs have grown 5x since 2002...

...It[']s expenses that are killing us: over the past decade, New York City hasn’t really grown its population but has increased expenses from $28.8 bn t $49.7 bn.

...”New York City needs a new pension plan for new employees.” [Ed: Gee, ya think?]

Perhaps someone can alert Bloomberg. I mean the idiot mayor, not the news service.


Hat tip: JTT.