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Federal Salaries Fall Behind Private Sector, Panel Says
Washington Post ^ | November 1, 2010 | Lisa Rein and Eric Yoder

Posted on 11/01/2010 7:14:07 AM PDT by Poundstone

Official numbers released by the government late last week show salaries of federal workers falling slightly farther behind their private-sector counterparts in the last year, by an average of 2.1 percent across the country.

The disparity shows wide variations among the 31 regions where the government compares federal pay with salaries for private-sector jobs in order to determine pay raises. The Washington-Baltimore area, for example, showed among the largest gaps, with federal workers 38 percent behind the private sector.

(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: benefits; compensation; employees; employment; federal; federaljobs; federalpay; federalsalaries; government; jobs; obamanomics; privatesector; taxes
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And so the back and forth debate over federal employees' salaries and benefits continues.
1 posted on 11/01/2010 7:14:10 AM PDT by Poundstone
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To: Poundstone

Boo, frackin’ hooo.


2 posted on 11/01/2010 7:15:33 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: Poundstone

I should note that the difficult thing in analyzing federal compensation is comparing apples to apples. Most studies that assert federal employees are overpaid compare apples to oranges, i.e, they include blue collar workers, burger flippers, and their ilk in their comparison. Few of those types work for the federal government.


3 posted on 11/01/2010 7:15:45 AM PDT by Poundstone (A recent Federal retiree and proud of it!)
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To: Poundstone

Looks like the Left is gearing up its propaganda machine to stop cuts in government worker pay, benefits and protections. The moment a Republican proposes even the most limited government worker salary or benefit cut, look for the MSM to unleash the sob stories about how some poor, dedicated government worker is about to get thrown out of his house and his children will starve because of the evil GOP.


4 posted on 11/01/2010 7:16:26 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard
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To: Poundstone

Good. They should be behind the payola being paid to feds when they hit the private sector.


5 posted on 11/01/2010 7:17:04 AM PDT by Chickensoup (Try Dodd and Frank for robbery and treason.)
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To: Poundstone

I call BS!


6 posted on 11/01/2010 7:17:15 AM PDT by caver (Obama: Home of the Whopper)
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To: Poundstone
burger flippers, and their ilk

You're an elitist pig.

I can't wait until we chop a good 60% of Federal parasites of the payroll.

L

7 posted on 11/01/2010 7:18:05 AM PDT by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: Poundstone

I think it depends on the position. Doctors and nurses at the VA could certainly make more in private sector.

Administrators/analysts/specialists probably are paid a bit better in the Public sector, and technical and administrative probably average.

Except in D.C....where everyone is overpaid.


8 posted on 11/01/2010 7:18:14 AM PDT by mom4melody
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To: Poundstone

How convenient.


9 posted on 11/01/2010 7:18:31 AM PDT by dools0007world
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To: Poundstone
With all due respect, the word "benefits" does not appear in this article. The article talks only of salary, and seeks sympathy for the poor federal employees who have lost a little ground in terms of salary.

Meanwhile, they have a great benefits package, and their sector has been growing (thanks to a trillion dollar deficit) providing (for now) job security and opportunities for advancement.

Federal employees are doing just fine.

10 posted on 11/01/2010 7:18:31 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy
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To: Poundstone
Now pull the other one. How much did federal salaries get cut in the past couple of years? How many non-government employees had their pay, overtime or bonuses cut?
11 posted on 11/01/2010 7:18:41 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Grblb blabt unt mipt speeb!! Oot piffoo blaboo...)
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To: Poundstone

BS post drool....


12 posted on 11/01/2010 7:18:45 AM PDT by Doogle ((USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: Poundstone
I know someone who is absolutely unemployable but who has a Federal job that pays them $48,000 a year to be a receptionist who is not responsible for answering phones or anything else. They sit at the desk to aid the five or six folks a day who walk through the door then call they party they're supposed to see, etc.

I don't know any receptionists with such limited duties making $48,000 a year and excellent benefits, do you? Until I find more Federal employees shopping the sales and the inexpensive stores than the upscale ones, I'm not believing a word about Federal employees being underpaid. It's BS they come up with by using many, many, artificial comparisons and by larding the job descriptions with elaborate descriptions of the duties and requirements.

have a nice day

13 posted on 11/01/2010 7:19:40 AM PDT by Rashputin ( Palin 2012 (leave Jim in the Senate til he gets even with the GOP))
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To: Poundstone
I don't believe a word of it.
Bureaucracy lies, it's their nature.

It's like global warming.
Without the full set of unmanipulated data, they can assert anything they want.

How about the productivity?
I have NEVER experienced public employees anywhere working an 8-hour day.

How about retirement at 50 or 55? How about retirement at 80% of working salary?

Yeah, I believe that!

< /sarc >

14 posted on 11/01/2010 7:20:43 AM PDT by Publius6961 ("In 1964 the War on Poverty Began --- Poverty won.")
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To: Poundstone
I don't believe that. It was only a few months ago that Federal workers' salaries were the topic of alarm because they were so high...higher than the private sector.

Federal jobs have been on the increase, and anyone awake knows what has happened to private sector employment.

But, like Governor Christie of NJ told that teacher - the federal workers can always quit if they don't like th salaries and find something in the private sector...good luck with that.

But the story is from the WaPo...so take it with a grain of federal salary.....
15 posted on 11/01/2010 7:20:53 AM PDT by FrankR (November 2nd is NOT an election - it's a RESTRAINING ORDER.....VOTE!)
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To: Poundstone
I don't believe a word of it.
Bureaucracy lies, it's their nature.

It's like global warming.
Without the full set of unmanipulated data, they can assert anything they want.

How about the productivity?
I have NEVER experienced public employees anywhere working an 8-hour day.

How about retirement at 50 or 55? How about retirement at 80% of working salary?

Yeah, I believe that!

< /sarc >

16 posted on 11/01/2010 7:20:59 AM PDT by Publius6961 ("In 1964 the War on Poverty Began --- Poverty won.")
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To: Poundstone
The ultimate reality check is ratio of qualified job seekers to job openings.

On one hand, Federal jobs will pay more than comparable work in the private sector because they tend to be concentrated in areas with a high cost of living, such as DC.

On the other, some private jobs will pay more because they tend to value productivity over years of service.

Supply and demand balance is the ultimate reality check. And, what do you suppose it tells us about federal salaries?

17 posted on 11/01/2010 7:21:15 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: Poundstone

Statistics produced by the Federal Salary Council, a presidential appointed council. I’m sure it is not biased //sarc//


18 posted on 11/01/2010 7:21:46 AM PDT by BAW ("We can absorb a terrorist attack." - Pres Barack Hussein Obama)
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To: Poundstone
This is the key quote:

The government's numbers also show that higher-paid, more senior employees tend to fall behind their counterparts at private companies, whereas lower-paid employees in government come out ahead. "The highest-paid federal employee makes $400,000 a year," said Philip M. Doyle, assistant commissioner for compensation for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, referring to the president.

So, A typical CEO makes more than the POTUS and therefore, fed employees make less. Rubbish.

19 posted on 11/01/2010 7:21:52 AM PDT by Right Brother
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To: Poundstone

LOL...so the federal government issues these ludicrous numbers declaring that federal workers are UNDERPAID in D.C. Who in the world believes such tripe.
If at least 50% of those workers were fired, no one would notice. They should be paid what they are worth.


20 posted on 11/01/2010 7:22:11 AM PDT by kittymyrib
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