Posted on 06/24/2007 7:16:18 PM PDT by listenhillary
Sometimes the easiest way to find a job that pays well is to ask a wealthy relative to hire you.
For many, that relative is Uncle Sam.
Federal workers, on average, are paid almost 50% more than employees in the private sector, an Asbury Park Press analysis of salary data shows.
The average federal worker made $59,864 in 2005, compared with the average salary of $40,505 in the private sector, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
And that pay gap appears to have widened in the first nine months of 2006.
(Excerpt) Read more at wzzm13.com ...
So why do you need unions?
I got a 40 % raise when I left civil service... but they did expect me to work in private industry.
All and all, a good trade.
No, no at all. Life-time positions in the Federal Government are the modern equivalent of sinecures in the Middle Ages. And that is not as it should be. The President has a term limit of eight years, and by golly, no one in FedGov should hold a position for life in any agency, except those in the lowest tier of jobs -- brown collar. Higher positions should be limited, seven years for most and fourteen by special merit.
That shows that averages are meaningless. Some are underpaid, some are overpaid. It really depends on qualifications, skills, amount of work done.
I don’t doubt there are many loafers, but there are also many hard workers with good skills who have their reasons.
“but they did expect me to work in private industry”
That would be quite the shock to SOME government employees.
The State Department would be a good department to term limit.
Look how p*ssed they got when Bush fired 8 US attorneys. WHICH HE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO DO WITHOUT ANSWERING TO ANYONE!
The answer is term limits. No matter how good the clowns are in the minds of their constituents, both Byrd and Kennedy have long overstayed their usefulness in DC......
These gross aggregate comparisons are good for a headline, but unless you have a job by job comparison, you don't really have an idea whether or not a particular government job is any good.
Worth knowing, Fed-Ex, UPS and USPS pretty much pay the same hourly rate for comparable jobs ~ and the fringe benefits are pretty much the same.
The biggest differences are in the more esoteric benefits available only to management and top level administrative people.
Yes, there are bunch — all excepting the military. The military’s model of lifetime employment has much higher standards and performance expectations — nor is the military a high paying profession. We don’t allow cashing in on captures like the old British Navy, nor, despite the effect of military-industrial-complex, have significant ownership — de facto or de jure — of private commercial firms by military personnel, like the Red Chinese do.
Chances are you went through a revolving door to a company that you used to have some linkage to, or your government service unit had linkage to.
And chances are as well that the company you work for is on government contract. Hence, your 40% increase was approved in the contract by a fellow government contracts officer.
I know when I turned down a GM-15 position with the federal government I could live with the fact that I would not have to work with the world’s worst deadwood.
The federal government could shed 50% of its workforce and no one would notice it.
But the real insult with people like you and in other tax supported institutions like major universities, is that you likely took an undeserved overly generous retirement with you as you started a new job with a new retirement plan. So likely you will be triple dipping, your government pension, your new job pension and your social security which is still there for you but not for new kids coming along.
Congratulations.
I am one of these triple dippers you are talking about.
I draw a military pension, social security and a small state civil service pension.
The cash value of these pensions is less than the value of the stock options of some of the twenty-something-year olds in my acquaintance.
I worked my butt off and I apologize to no one for the decent lifestyle I enjoy in my twilight years.
You don’t even have a clue what you are talking about.
bookmark
To make sure that no one is ever laid off, that’s why.
This study focuses on salaries, not total compensation. It is not easy to make a reasonable comparison. Besides controlling for variables such as education and position, intangible benefits need to be controlled. Intangible variables include job security, vacation time, sick leave, and work environment.
All of these studies are seriously flawed in retirement compensation. Retirement compensation in most government jobs is much higher than in the private sector. Although a few private sector executives receive golden parachutes at retirement, most government workers receive golden parachutes in large amounts of deferred compensation that is carefully disguised as a pension. Many government agencies however, claim that retirement compensation is higher in the private sector than public sector.
For example, in Colorado, the Department of Human Resources conducts an annual compensation survey to ensure that compensation of public employees is comparable to private sector employees. Amazingly, the agency claims that retirement compensation in the private sector is higher than the public sector. If retirement compensation is higher (or at least comparable), why do public sector employees retire at much younger ages at higher levels of benefits?
Here is a summary of a recent study that analyzes retirement compensation of public employees in Colorado. The study indicates that career public employees receive large amounts of deferred compensation. This deferred compensation when allocated to a career employee’s salary can increase compensation 30% to 50%.
http://www.i2i.org/articles/IB-2007-D.pdf
Thanks for the link and info.
Adding insult to injury many state governments add annual fiscal surpluses to their employee pension funds and keep this fact hidden from taxpayers. This was discovered in Oregon two years ago.
When I was offered the GM-15 position back in the 1988 I was seriously considering taking it as the the GM-15 I was to replace was highly respected and I admired him. But he was from the old school when government unions did not exist and civil service consisted of people that were some of the finest the country could produce. But as I toured his offices and saw the unbelievable amount of non-productive government people, I asked him why he could not fire these sloths. His answer was simply that since the union had taken control of government, he had no more control over his ‘subordinates’. He said he had tried to fire certain individuals on numerous occasions but there was always a remedial phase that was decided by the union.
I think many of us know the government union situation is the reason for these excesses. They are a monopoly with legal protections that would require an intense campaign by Congressional, Administrative and Judicial leaders to reform. Because many of the reform leaders needed to conduct such a campaign are government supported, they would in effect be conducting intentional friendly fire.
But thankfully this impotent situation will come to a halt. The enormous taxes that are projected to be necessary to support entitlements are going to have Americans asking where can government be cut to relieve the burden that is coming. There will then be a weekly news headline about the excesses of government and government controlled services.
It’s already started. Here’s an example:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003704046_citylight12m.html
and it is known to be widespread:
http://thepapernoose.blogspot.com/2007/05/those-overpaid-lazy-union-workers.html
And the second link does make a valid point. Workers are finding it hard to buy a modest home. Blame the Federal Reserve’s actions earlier this decade for that one. They printed so much money that found its way to housing that the hyperinflation they caused has elicited the union response that $100,000 in pay for government workers is necessary to live on.
I am very aware of the variables that factor into a bleak outlook. Economists are hoping that the situation will find a stability, a durable equilibrium.
I think that because of what I call the demographic tsunami that is now visible on the horizon, we are going to be facing a historic challenge where stability will be nonexistent. I believe it will not be an economic depression but rather a fiscal crisis and tax revolt never seen before. It is going to be interesting to say the least.
BTW I am not preaching doom here as I see a positive development coming out of all this, the FairTax and the repeal of the 16th Amendment. This will solve the entrenched government union problem by forcing accountability. It will also force a reform of the Federal Reserve which is not federal at all but maybe should be. It is no more federal than Federal Express. There is no amendment that supports the Federal Reserve. It was an act passed in 1913 as a quid pro for passage of the 16th Amendment.
I worked my butt off...
Do you also get disability for being butt-less?
(sorry, I couldn’t resist)
If George Bush wishes to keep the wages of workers down, why doesn’t he start with government workers?
“Do you also get disability for being butt-less?
(sorry, I couldn’t resist)”
No disability. There is no medicare code for “butt-less”.
Being butt-less is considered by some to be an ASSet.
(sorry)
“If George Bush wishes to keep the wages of workers down, why doesn’t he start with government workers?”
He doesn’t have to.
The twelve million illegals in the labor market do a great job of keeping wages down.
The disconnect is not difficult to figure out: gubmint has pretty much stayed on track in terms of pay and benefits according to circa 1950s/60s rules while folks in the private sector without significant skill sets have seen their pay decrease, stagnate or only inch up slightly in “constant dollars.”
What is surprising is that they use the private sector as a benchmark and not the public sector.
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