Letter: State losing businesses

I read with interest the editorial on the greater earnings of government employees versus private sector employees.

My employment record with the private and government sectors provides strong record of that major shift. When I began a 13- year stint with the Procter and Gamble Corp. in 1960, the average employee made more than twice the salary of government employees. P&G had similar medical benefits and a better retirement.

Where it differed was in much more stringent sick leave benefits. By the time I left Procter and Gamble in 1973, I took a job with the federal government at less than half the hourly pay. It didn't bother me, since I had received a college degree and wanted to be engaged in civil service.

By the end of the 1980s, I finally began earning more than I had with P&G. A bit later in the early 1990s, P&G was closing its California plants in Long Beach and Sacramento. P&G found friendlier locales in Iowa, Missouri and Louisiana.

My comparison ends here, but as a seasoned citizen, long retired, it appears that California cannot afford the continuing loss of good companies like P&G.

Ed Craddock

Yuba City