Government Workers Earn More Than Their Private-Sector Counterparts
The CBO study shows that federal employees earned an average 16% more in total compensation, meaning pay and benefits, versus workers at private companies. . . .
The CBO study compared workers of similar characteristics, including length of employment, level of education and occupation, based on government household data for 2005 through 2010.
Health and retirement benefits were on average 46% higher for federal workers with a bachelor’s degree; 71% higher for federal workers with some college; 36% for federal employees with a master’s degree; and 72% higher on average for federal employees with a high school degree.
Driving the big 16% swing higher in average total compensation for federal workers are the retiree benefits government workers get. Specifically, the CBO says that federal workers can get “both a defined-benefit pension and a defined contribution plan,” or 401(k), whereas private sector workers tend to only have 401(k) plans. Workers must contribute a percentage of their own salaries to participate in 401(k) plans while workers do not have to contribute to pension plans. . . .
A USA Today analysis of the federal “job for life” issue in July 2011 found that in 2010, federal workers enjoyed a 99.43% job security rate, and in many agencies, employees were more likely to die of natural causes than get laid off or fired by the federal government.
The paper also says the federal government fired just 0.55% of its workers in the budget year ending September 2010, versus a rate of firings in the private sector that was about six times higher, at around 3%.
Is this report from the same media you probably hate because of their biased, inaccurate reporting? C’mon, it is a sensationalist hit piece based on skewed, cherry picked data. If i searched, i could find articles from periodicals aimed at federal employees showing the opposite. The truth is somewhere betwwen.
Yes, government jobs are more secure than private sector (for the moment) but many could make more outside govt if they wanted to trade the security. Retirement is similar to many private sector now. I pay more for health insurance with govt than i did with private employer.