Posted on 12/19/2008 8:09:38 AM PST by Maelstorm
Newly released data show that federal employee wages and benefits continue a rapid ascent above and beyond private sector pay levels. The data was released last week by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. (See tables 6.2, 6.3, 6.5, and 6.6).
The new data show that the 1.8 million federal civilian workers earned an average wage of $77,143 in 2007, which is 61 percent higher than the $48,035 average in the U.S. private sector. That 61 percent pay advantage has increased from a 34 percent advantage in 2000.
Looking at total compensation (wages plus benefits), federal workers earned an average $116,450 in 2007, which is more than double the $57,615 private sector average. The federal compensation advantage increased from 68 percent in 2000 to 102 percent today. Federal workers not only earn much more than private sector workers, their earnings advantage is getting more pronounced every year.
Federal compensation rose quickly during the 1990s, but even faster during the 2000s. I call this the “Bush Bounce” because it appears that the Bush administration has caved into federal union demands for expanded pay year after year. Between 2000 and 2007, average federal compensation increased at an annual average rate of 6.3 percent, which compares to the private sector increase of 3.5 percent. During the 1990s, average federal worker compensation increased at an average rate of 5.1 percent. The charts below illustate the “blast off” in federal wages and compensation.
The upshot is that with a federal budget deficit of $500 billion, federal pay restraint should be a priority of the next administration. I’ve proposed freezing federal pay for a period of years, while privatizing costly activities such as air traffic control. The BEA data show that compensation for federal civilian workers cost taxpayers $213 billion in 2007, so there are substantial savings possible here. (Those costs do not include the $166 billion in military compensation costs in 2007).
The Wall Street Journal has called the overly generous federal pay environment “Club Fed.” How long will average American wage earners be willing to foot the tax bill for this elite Washington club?
The retirement benefits and medical you receive when you retire are far, far better than the private sector.
Fortunately, I live in D/FW, so I stay pretty busy doing contract work.
Wonder how long that lasts until the serfs stop working or revolt?
It’s worse than that.
Federal employees (sorry feds....) are generally less competent on average - so they would actually get paid less than the private sector if all things were equal.
The assumption that the average private sector employee is equivalent in IQ, productivity, and motivation to the average federal sector employee is a faulty one, in my opinion.
I’ve seen both up close.
Fewer and few people in the private sector are getting pensions.
Meanwhile, put your 20 years into Gov't work and you have decades of free income with annual increases.
It’s not just the Federal government, either. Public sector jobs at all levels now routinely boast huge salary and benefit advantages over those in the Dreaded Private Sector. It is hard to remember, but there was a time when “public service” was considered a calling and a sacrifice. Now, for a lot of folks (exclusive of the military, where the average pay still lags badly) it’s a gravy train.
Yep and the work schedule is much lighter. I figure most work about half a day especially those working in a HQ capacity. I used to work as a contractor for both DoD and DHS. There are a lot of hard working ex-military but the amount of Fraud Waste and Abuse is disgusting. Also in D.C. the amount of anti-American sentiment in the workforce is alarming. People with clearances talking about how we would be better served bombing Utah and Texas than Iraq and not really joking. Others privately discussing how they are surprised that President Bush hasn’t been assassinated while making it clear they would not be upset by such a thing. The good thing is that if you are in government you can and should file complaints to the IGs office when you see such behavior. I did and it worked. One CIO who was wasting money left and right ended up in retirement, and another manager also ended up in the retirement box.
The thing about it is that you don’t have to give your name you just need to provide the adequate contact information of people for them to interview.
You are right and no one is saying a word about it. When a company is bankrupt they are forced to restructure and cut their workforce, pay, benefits, etc. State workers are going to feel the pain because many of these states are going into the crapper but federal workers are largely protected. Why isn’t a moratorium being placed on pay increases in the federal government? The company I work for is doing that, they also canceled our annual kickoff and we are doing really well overall and the company has lots of cash on hand.
Bureaucrat=Democrat.
In Virginia the first thing that was cut was state employee pay raises (which were only 2 percent to begin with). In fact, it’s always the first thing cut.
Government workers have no incentive, either way, to do a good job or be more productive.
My brother in law worked for the USGS for many years. He left there to go to work for a private firm doing the same work. He says people at the private firm were four times more productive than the federal employees.
Out of four hundred people in his USGS office, he only knew of 2 people who voted for Bush in ‘04. One guy had a W sticker on his car and it was vandalized at the office. There were endless e-mails and flyers passed around the office telling employees to vote Democrat because the Republicans would cut funding and they could lose their jobs.
Supervisors were promoted from within, so they had the same mindset as everyone else.
They just have to make sure the tax money keeps coming in and keep their noses clean. Set for life.
The last person I heard say that was Joe Biden.
Think I'm going to coin a new phrase today..."Empty Sac Republicans" or "ESR's". Logo will be an empty scrotal sac. Motto....Running on Empty.
(where's my sex wax :) )
My only question is are these numbers for civilian workers ONLY? Or do the numbers include military pay? Because I know during the last 8 years we have increased soldiers pay and benefits ( and I wish we would do more).
Me dumb a$$ed federal calibration tech.... only work in the 50mhz to 18.5 ghz range LOL
“Me dumb a$$ed federal calibration tech.... only work in the 50mhz to 18.5 ghz range LOL”
....so you know exactly what I’m talking about!
NJ Gov Corzine and girlfriend CWA Union head Katz
It's the similar thing with the teachers unions, the NEA and the UFT.
Lesbian Randi Weingarten, head of the UFT, and Al Sharpton.
"Charismatic" SEUI head Andy Stern (white shirt) and Ned Lamont (D) who was running against Joe Lieberman in CT two years ago. To them "Justice, Justice, Justice" means "me, me, me".
The unions in the last couple of generations have been most effective in exerting effective political pressure, by bringing in big voting blocs, by infiltration into and co-opting of the bureaucracies of fellow travelers. The age of strikes is over.
The strongest unions today ARE the public sector unions, and Auto Workers are aiming to pony up to the table where the politicians vote to fund contracts, and to sustain the "employment" shells that state and federal governments have become.
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