California state worker pay database updated with 2021 wages, overtime

The Sacramento Bee’s State Worker pay database has been updated with data for 2021.

The data is searchable by employee name and state department, and includes 2021 salary information for civil service employees along with those who work for California State University. It includes 2020 salary information for those who work at the University of California. Data on 2021 University of California salaries will be available later this year.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature restored state employees’ pay in July after reducing it a year earlier amid projections of a budget shortfall that never came to pass.

Most state workers also received pay raises of around 5% — or about 2.5% for each of the fiscal years ending in 2020 and 2021. Some classifications of employees received additional recruitment and retention raises.

The state paid roughly 260,000 civil service employees a total of about $21.8 billion in the 2021 calendar year, according to the updated pay data from the state Controller’s Office. That includes full-time, part-time and intermittent workers, and excludes employees at California State University and the University of California.

The total is up from 2020, when the state paid roughly 1,000 more people a total of about $20.8 billion.

Investment officers at the state’s retirement systems again topped the list of highest-paid employees. California’s rules for paying people in those jobs differ from the rest of the state’s civil service, to enable the retirement funds to hire in the competitive world of finance.

But, unlike last year, top officers at the California State Teachers’ Retirement System received bigger payouts than most of their peers at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System after both systems exceeded earnings targets in the fiscal year ending in June.

Seven of the 10 highest-paid state employees worked at CalSTRS, according to the data. The system’s chief investment officer, Christopher Ailman, topped the list with $1.67 million in total pay. That included about $568,000 in regular pay and $1.1 million in other pay.

Chief executive officer Jack Ehnes and deputy chief investment officer Scott Chan also cleared $1 million, with Ehnes earning $1.1 million and Chan earning $1.03 million, according to the data. Ehnes retired in June.

State Compensation Insurance Fund President and CEO Vernon Steiner was the fourth-highest earner, at $841,000.

Next came four more CalSTRS investment officers and a State Controller’s Office consultant.

Dan Bienvenue, who has been CalPERS’ acting chief investment officer as the system searches for a permanent CIO, was the state’s 10th-highest earner, with total pay of $791,000, according to the data.

This story was originally published January 25, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "California state worker pay database updated with 2021 wages, overtime."