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State Payroll

Public Advocate

24 employees · NJ state government agency

Public Advocate is a mid-sized state agency with 24 employees on the state payroll.

The most common title is Assistant Ombudsman Secured Facilities (50% of staff), followed by Assistant Division Director and Clerk Typist. Median pay is $133,961, about 58% above the statewide median.

Median tenure is 10.4 years. CWA represents the largest share of its unionized workforce (about 75%).

About Public Advocate

This payroll line covers ombudsman staff who work on behalf of people held in secured facilities, investigating complaints and conditions independently of the agencies that run those facilities. The label on the line is a historical one and does not describe a currently operating cabinet department.

The roster is almost entirely assistant ombudsman positions covering secured facilities, plus a small administrative core. It is one of the smallest lines on the state payroll and carries a high median salary, which is a function of having no junior tier rather than of unusual pay for the work. Independence from the facilities being examined is the design principle behind the office.

Who works here

These are the titles that carry the most people on this payroll. Each one links to its civil service specification, which sets out the duties, the minimum requirements and the salary range.

Assistant Division Director, Government Representative 1 are catch-all titles used for very different jobs across agencies, so the median pay shown against them covers a wide mix of roles and does not describe a single position.

How pay is spread

Below are the quartile boundaries for this agency's salaries, with the statewide equivalents alongside them for reference.

The middle half of this agency's employees earn between $121,290 and $142,024, a ratio of 1.17 between the two quartiles. State government as a whole sits at 1.80, so this agency's pay is bunched more tightly than average, which tends to happen where one or two large titles carry most of the staff.

  • Lowest recorded salary$92,711
  • Lower quartile$121,290
    statewide $62,428
  • Median salary$133,961
    statewide $84,548
  • Upper quartile$142,024
    statewide $112,646
  • Highest recorded salary$172,500

Based on 22 salaried records, with 4 statistical outliers excluded from the quartile calculation.

Union representation

Which contract covers a job decides its salary schedule, its step ladder and its grievance route. This is the union mix on this payroll.

  • CWA18 employees
    75.0% of the agency
  • IBEW2 employees
    8.3% of the agency

Union coverage is identifiable for 83% of this agency's payroll records. The remainder are unclassified, exempt or managerial positions that sit outside a bargaining unit.

How long people stay

Tenure tells you something a salary table cannot: whether this is a place people arrive at or a place they stay.

Half of this agency's employees have been on the state payroll longer than 10.4 years, against a statewide median of 9.6. 38% joined within the last five years, and 29% have twenty years or more behind them.

  • Under 5 years9 employees
    37.5% of those with a hire date
  • 5 to 10 years3 employees
    12.5% of those with a hire date
  • 10 to 15 years1 employee
    4.2% of those with a hire date
  • 15 to 20 years4 employees
    16.7% of those with a hire date
  • 20 to 25 years4 employees
    16.7% of those with a hire date
  • 25 years or more3 employees
    12.5% of those with a hire date

Hire dates are present for 24 of this agency's 24 payroll records.

Civil service coverage

92% of this agency's payroll records carry a title that matches a published civil service specification. That is a high match rate, and it means the hiring routes described elsewhere on this site apply to most jobs here: an announced examination, an eligible list, and appointment from that list.

  • Records matched to a specification22
  • Records with no matching specification2
  • Distinct civil service titles on the roster10

Where it sits among state agencies

By headcount this is the 36th largest of the 39 payroll lines in New Jersey state government, under a twentieth of one percent of the state workforce.

Its nearest neighbours by headcount, for readers who want a like-for-like comparison.