Posted on 03/11/2013 4:38:05 AM PDT by IbJensen
The Washington Post has a sympathetic article today on federal workers who consider themselves unfair victims of the sequester. Unfortunately, the article does not consider data and evidence, instead characterizing criticism of federal worker compensation as mere assertion, jealous emotionalism, or politicking.
Federal employees are upset about “perceptions” of government work, according to the people interviewed for the story. They have to defend themselves from “arguments” about excessive compensation and short working hours. They are “the target of popular rage” because the private sector is “frustrated, even jealous.” There is a “drumbeat” of negativity, “ritual denunciation,” and “bashing” of federal workers.
These sentiments supposedly come from “talk radio and websites devoted to bashing the government.” They’re driven by “a small minority of vociferous people.”
A reality check is needed here. Numerous independent analyses—including from The Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, and the Congressional Budget Office—find that compensation for federal employees is higher than for comparable private-sector workers. The Government Accountability Office recently summarized the results of these studies:
As these studies indicate, overcompensation of federal workers is a widely acknowledged fact, not a mere “perception” generated from a dark corner of the Internet. And far from “bashing” federal workers, these studies are calling attention to a serious fiscal problem—the overcharging of taxpayers for federal personnel costs. Should we just ignore this problem because some federal employees are offended?
As for the question of being “underworked,” there is strong evidence that federal employees do work less, on average, than private-sector employees—about one month less per year, in fact.
It’s fine for the media to get federal employees’ reactions to sequestration, but hard data and evidence should accompany the stories.
There is a “drumbeat” of negativity, “ritual denunciation,” and “bashing” of federal workers.
So quit your job and get one where you are a positive influence on the economy.
do I really have to say it???
There are lots of stupid and lazy feds whose production and quality would increase if there was fear of the pink slip.
Given the results of their work, we should be glad they aren’t doing more.
Congress writes vast and vague laws directing executive departments to establish armies of monkeys with typewriters to fulfill vague mandates and an insatable appetite for endless form filing. It doesn’t matter how many hours they work. They are hired for quantity, not efficiency.
Thanks IbJensen. As the old saying goes, an attempt to remove barnicles is never seen as an attack on the boat itself — except by the barnicles.
There’s an easy answer to overworked and underpaid - - - get a different job or start your own business.
The difficulty with these sorts of articles is that, while there is a bunch of truth in it in certain areas, it is false in others.
That is, the fed workforce includes “jobs” covering the entire gamut of services from secretarial to engineering to veterinarian to medical to accounting etc. Some job categories are grossly overpaid, some are comparable to private sector and some are below private sector.
Usually these sorts of studies take the average fed wage and compare it to the average private sector wage. In which case the feds always look overpaid. And the truth is that many feds are overpaid, and most federal jobs should not even exist (Dept of education for example).
I’d like to see a comparison of, say, engineering jobs in DOD vs engineering in the private sector. Or accounting jobs in Education vs accounting in the private sector. Break it down by career fields and see where the cutting should be done.
From where does this “right to a permanent, full-time job” come? In the private sector, businesses expand and contract all the time, according to market cycles. It stinks for employees, but occasionally, private sector employees are laid off. This is the way things work. If you don’t like it, get some skills that allow you to move between jobs more easily.
I agree on this point: “I’d like to see a comparison of, say, engineering jobs in DOD vs engineering in the private sector. Or accounting jobs in Education vs accounting in the private sector. Break it down by career fields and see where the cutting should be done.” Like that will ever happen in our lifetime. It’s too easy for many on this page to look at a broad average and get spun up. They are being played by Heritage and others. Just remember, figures don’t lie, but LIARS can figure. A POX on all who are unable or unwilling to present the facts in an honest way.
Compare the lousy job they do, the luxurious (union-guarded) benefits they receive, and their generally lower levels of competence and productivity and you’ll see that even if they were on par with the private sector, they are still. being paid far too much.
“Government worker” is an oxymoron. It’s more like “outcall welfare.”
What good would that do? They are incompetent. You are comparing apples and road apples. DOD lifers tend not to work out in the private sector. They are lazy clock punchers.
When a buddy of mine graduated from MIT, he went to work for another Army facility, the old Watertown Arsenal. He worked with a guy who spent all day doing the NYT crossword puzzle. Another guy slept at his desk. At the end of the year, they would exhaust their budget on million-dollar testing equipment that would sit idle.
Reagan threatened to shutter the Arsenal. There was a great hue and cry in the media. My friend laughed when Tip O'Neill was interviewed in front of the building, describing it as a vital facility.
In the end, the base commission closed it. Now it's a shopping mall.
I suspect that these facilities are tight ships in comparison to the rest of the government.
Let it burn.
At the core, much (not all) federal employment is just another form of government welfare - another way for the federal government to get people addicted to living on the government teat.
There are a lot of government employees who do work hard and who do accomplish something of value. But there are many more who do little of value to the taxpayer or the nation.
And there are a great number engaged in busy-work or carrying out a political agenda who are a nuisance and a drag on the nation and the economy.
As an example - the Energy Department was created in 1977 with the intent of making America more energy independant and less reliant on foreign oil. Today, after 36 years, we are even more reliant on foreign oil. The DOE has squandered trilions of dollars on alternate energy boondoggles and created thousands of regulations that hurt the economy and make products more complicated and costly.
They spend their time slowing down innovation and productivity and making life more difficult for businesses and individual Americans.
Postal workers are regularly fired and then prosecuted for infractions not even thought of as infractions in the private sector. GIs undergo nonjudicial punishment all the the time. And there's what's called 'borderline personality disorder' ~ whereas the military will get rid of you fast with that one, it's usually grounds for promotion in the higher ranks of management in the private sector.
Most government employees are postal workers and soldiers, sailers, marines, airmen BTW.
The average age of first employment with the US government for civilian employees is 35. Take that any way you want.
The federal government has no large body of retail employment!
Does that include schedule A? You could also add that military veterans have preference. That should tick some people off.
Truth is, gov is a place to go if you have no real motivation to do much. Punch the clock - 40 hours per week.
Most government employees are postal workers and soldiers, sailers, marines, airmen BTW.
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Most folks don’t think of servicemen and women as “government employees”. I know that I don’t think of members of the Armed Forces as government employees and didn’t think that of myself when I served in the Army.
yah start you r own business so you can be really broke
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