The Alaska Salary Database is designed to be a public service that increases pay transparency for public employees. The hope and goal of the site is to improve transparency, provide realistic salary expectations, and help governments and state agencies appropriately set compensation targets that will attract and retain high quality employees.
Salaries, benefits, and the entire compensation package of employees is a complex, and often hidden, part of running any business or government. While there are some benefits to keeping this information private, I believe that the benefits of salary transparency greatly outweigh the privacy costs. Equal pay for equal work can't happen in an environment where those making the most are incentivized not to share their salary information for fear that instead of peers being brought up to their level, high earners instead will lose the salary they feel is justified.
It is important to remember while using this site that there are many nuances of public employee compensation that are lost when looking at just the aggregated totals. While the compensation amounts should indicate how much an employee makes they do not imply that the employee costs the government or tax payers that same amount. Many public employees in Alaska receive part or all of their salary from grants or matching funds from private foundations or the federal government.
If you've noticed an error on our site, or have any other questions, comments, or concerns please contact us using the resources on our contact page.