More than 2,000 state workers receive some kind of welfare

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Pamela Current spends her days at a state psychiatric hospital caring for young people with mental illness, teaching them skills to cope with daily life, from personal hygiene to cooking.

But when it comes to her own health-care needs, and those of her two young children, she must rely on a government program for the poor, elderly and disabled to help cover the costs.

She is not alone. In all, 2,045 state employees receive welfare benefits of some kind, according to data compiled at the request of The Associated Press by the Missouri Department of Social Services.

That accounts for about 3 percent of nearly 62,000 full- and part-time state employees.

Of those, 1,291 were receiving food stamps and 1,276 were on the Medicaid health-care program, while still others were receiving cash grants or assistance with child-care expenses. Most of those receiving state aid were full-time employees.

The figures, updated March 31, were the latest available. They tally state employees receiving benefits, but do not include family members, so the number of government families receiving welfare may be even larger. For example, if children of state workers are on Medicaid but their parents are not, they are not figured in the totals.

Current earns $8.45 an hour as a psychiatric aide at the Hawthorn Children's Psychiatric Hospital in St. Louis, part of the state Mental Health Department. She and her two children -- 6-month-old C'Mya White and 5-year-old Khyra Benson -- are on Medicaid and receive food stamps. She said she has state health insurance for herself, and Medicaid kicks in to cover what the state plan does not.

"It's sad. I have to live from paycheck to paycheck, even with assistance from the state," Current said.

Slightly fewer last yearThe situation is not new. A year earlier, 1,971 state workers were receiving welfare, the department said.

By comparison, more than 1 million Missourians -- nearly 20 percent of the population -- were receiving Medicaid, food stamps or other public assistance as of March 31, according to state data supplied by the Social Services Department.

The greatest number of state employees on welfare, like Current, work for the Mental Health Department, consistently mentioned as having among the lowest-paid workers with the highest-stress jobs by labor unions and Democratic Gov. Bob Holden.

Other agencies with hundreds of employees receiving food stamps or other benefits include Corrections, Social Services and Public Safety, which are among the largest agencies.

Holden this year proposed a 2 percent across-the-board pay raise, with extra pay of up to 10 percent for state employees in what he described as low-paid, high-turnover jobs -- people largely represented by unions that have supported the Democratic governor.

Holden said Missouri workers are paid among the lowest salaries in the nation. Census data shows state workers rank 49th in average pay.

"That's the reason I've fought so hard to get them fair pay over the last few years," Holden said. "We've got outstanding state employees that do a great job that do not receive the pay that they deserve."

The average salary for full-time state employees is $31,252, the Office of Administration said. Overall, 4,030 state workers earn less than $18,850 -- the federal poverty level for a family of four this year -- though their family size is not tracked.

The average salary in the Mental Health Department is $26,675 and in Social Services is $28,593.

'Paying for what the job is'Legislators approved a $1,200 pay raise for most state workers this year, and larger increases for members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, but not extra money for about 16,000 employees in "high-stress" jobs as Holden wanted.

"The issue really remains not on trying to reward people who join unions, as the governor tried to do, but on paying for what the job is," said House Budget Committee chairman Carl Bearden.

The St. Charles Republican said the way state jobs are classified will be reviewed to ensure the system is fair. Classifications determine pay levels.

"Perhaps some of them are too low," he said. "If in fact that's the market rate for those jobs in government, then I don't think we should pay more just so we don't have people on Medicaid. ... A lot of state employees make a pretty good wage on average."

A similar situation plays out on a national level.

Military pay, particularly at entry levels, is low. Families of enlisted soldiers, sailors and airmen with young children sometimes qualify for food stamps.

A spokesman for the federal Office of Personnel Management said it does not track the number of federal employees receiving welfare. Several national think tanks and policy groups said they expect Missouri is not alone in having state workers on welfare, but none kept statistics on how common it is.