Employees in Wyoming’s public sector have experienced the largest rate of wage and benefits growth over the private sector in the entire nation, according to a new paper from a Washington D.C. think tank.

Federal wage data compiled in an analysis released this week by the conservative American Enterprise Institute shows that Wyoming’s public sector workers earned roughly $39,000 more in combined wages and benefits than they did two decades ago, while those in the private sector experienced gains of less than $9,000 during that same period.