claim: "last year it was discovered that rhode island's public employees ranked 4th in average pay, while the private sector ranked 23rd."
author: travis rowley
evidence_1: mar 15, 2011 ... a local case in point is a column on public worker salaries written by yours truly,  which politifact recently made their latest target for examination. ... public  employees [rank] 4th in average pay, while the private sector [ranks] 23rd. ... was  able to discover that in 2001 “rhode island ranked 24th in private pay.
evidence_2: "last year it was discovered that rhode island's public employees ranked 4th in  average pay, while the private sector ranked 23rd." — politifact rhode island ...
evidence_3: feb 22, 2011 ... just a few decades later, rhode island was up to its eyeballs in debt and chained  down ... and last year it was discovered that rhode island's public employees  ranked 4th in average pay, while the private sector ranked 23rd.
evidence_4: "last year it was discovered that rhode island's public employees ranked 4th in  average pay, while the private sector ranked 23rd." — politifact rhode island ...
evidence_5: workers. in march 2018, there were 34,115 private businesses in the state  employing 408,997 workers. ... employed 16.9 percent of rhode island's private  sector .... rhode island (1.57%), ranked 39th in the nation in the percentage of  large ..... averaged $50,929, while pay for public sector workers averaged  $66,270.