LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — On Tuesday, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced a new state employee pay plan that she said will "streamline career tracks, consolidate job titles, and bring state employee pay up to labor market rates."
The governor made the announcement from the State Capitol in Little Rock, where she pointed to four key career paths that will be the beneficiary of the pay raise — correctional officers, social services, state police, and nursing.
Here's a breakdown of how the governor intends to increase salaries within those respective fields:
- Correctional officers: Average entry-level salaries will increase by 35.3%, from $37,589 to $50,845, and average salaries will increase by 17.1%, from $50,461 to $59,100.
- Social services: Average entry-level salaries will increase by 20.5%, from $44,172 to $52,442, and average salaries will increase by 15.3%, from $48,733 to $55,364.
- State Police: Average entry-level salaries will increase by 19.8%, from $56,498 to $67,706, and average salaries will increase by 10.4%, from $73,318 to $80,930.
- Nursing: Average entry-level salaries will increase by 8.3%, from $51,032 to $54,661, and average salaries will increase by 9.6%, from $57,686 to $61,552.
In order to establish this new state employee pay plan, the governor said that she had to take the existing plan "down to its studs" to incentivize Arkansans to apply for hard-to-fill essential positions.
“We took the existing pay plan down to its studs to rebuild a compensation system that rewards hard work and encourages Arkansans to apply to our most hard-to-fill positions," Gov. Sanders said. "I look forward to working with the legislature to pass this plan and deliver these long overdue reforms for our state employees.”
According to Gov. Sanders, the proposed pay plan would raise wages for 14,539 state employees in Arkansas and target career fields that are facing chronic shortages — this includes the aforementioned correctional officers, social services, state police, and nursing fields.
The governor said that this new pay plan will also consolidate around 2,200 current jobs titles into roughly 800 "proposed job titles that match their equivalent in the private labor force."
According to a press release, the governor's balanced budget will reflect the updated pay plan, which is expected to be presented in full this November.
"The updated pay plan will be included in the Governor’s balanced budget, which will be presented in full later this month. The total cost will be just over $102 million with nearly $60 million coming from General Revenue and the rest coming from other sources. Much of this cost will be absorbed by existing funding, due to salary savings and existing vacancies," Gov. Sanders said in a press release.
This new pay plan is part of the Governor’s broader Arkansas Forward initiative. If passed, it would go into effect in July of 2025.