Posted on 11/19/2012 6:49:13 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Should federal workers get a raise? With salaries and benefits paid to the government’s civilian workers totaling $271 billion in 2011, deciding whether to extend the freeze enacted last year on cost-of-living increases has important budgetary consequences. Unfortunately, the government’s methodology for comparing pay is too flawed to offer real guidance.
The Federal Salary Council, an advisory body of academics and leaders of public employee unions, suggested last month that federal workers are underpaid by an average of 35 percent relative to nonfederal employees. The council’s data come from the “President’s Pay Agent,” the bureaucratic entity that conducts the federal government’s annual pay comparison.
Employee unions seized on this figure, using it to push back against salary freezes. But the pay agent’s latest conclusions actually highlight the inadequacy of its methods.
If these figures are to be believed, federal employees are paid only 65 cents for every dollar received by nonfederal employees doing the same work. Put another way, the average federal employee who shifts to a job outside government would increase his salary by 54 percent.
The figures are implausible on their face. How could government pay employees more than one-third less than the going rate, yet keep employee turnover at only a fraction of the private-sector turnover rate? Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey show that, from 2001 to 2010, federal employees quit their jobs at less than half the rate of workers in large private-sector companies.
Here is the truth behind these numbers:
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Ask that fat slob Chris Christie. IN a state with the highest paid teachers in the nation and among those with the poorest performing students, he just endorsed an increase of $12,500 per annum, plus bonuses, for teachers in the Newark School system.
Guess he is rewarding them for the great job they have done (Sarcasm.)
So much for the great reformer.
Fire 65% of them, and give a small raise to the remainder.
I guess all thos government unions aren’t doing their job.
Numbers can be played with.
I guess they compare Barry’s salary to say, some CEO making a hundred times as much and cry foul.
Are teachers fed employees in NJ? I thought the story was govenment salaries.
Having said that I understand your anger with cc, he is a POS
Oh yeah; there's an un-biased analysis group for ya....
/SARC
500000 of our employees in DC are paid “more than” 100K
There are 14.6 million civilian Fed employees of We the People excluding Postal Service ..
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_employees_in_the_federal_government
271 billion/14.6 million = 185K APIECE....something doesn’t add up...and the Washington Post writers are too busy trying to avoid doing this simple math. Perhaps that includes retirement bennies..../s
How can you compare an immigration agent with a comparable civilian job when no such job exists in the civilian sector?
Unions in the federal sector have no say so as far as pay or benefits. I have no idea what they do.
When was the last time you heard of massive layoffs or downsizing in any Federal department. I think they still have a dept of buggy-whip certification.
The federal (not state or county government) employees I know have NEVER been laid off, had a cut in pay, and rarely go 3 years without a pay increase for the same job description.
“Are teachers fed employees in NJ?”
No, but they are paid by tax dollars. The BULK of New Jersey Tax dollars go to Teachers, then the state government then local government.
As a matter of fact, Newark is an “Abbott” school district. That means the locals can;t raise enough in taxes themselves to support the school system in the manner the State Supreme Court feels it SHOULD be supported SOOOOO
the OTHER schlubs in New Jersey - like me - get taxed MORE on THEIR school taxes to support Newark (and OTHER “Abbott” districts).
New Jersey is a weird place.
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