New Jersey Government Workers Making 100K: A Growth Industry

APP reports:

It's an elite club with a mushrooming membership: state employees paid more than $100,000 a year in salaries.

The club nearly doubled in size — to 4,422 members — from April 2006 to April 2008, according to an Asbury Park Press review of state payroll data.

And while the number of state workers dropped from 84,627 to 79,982, or 5.5 percent, their salaries grew to nearly $4.9 billion, or 5.7 percent.

The average compensation for all state employees — those in the executive, legislative and judicial branches — rose from $54,236 to $60,666 in two years.