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President Obama is stuck between a rock and a hard place, as newly empowered House Republicans unleash a torrent of proposals to shrink the size of government and following a series of reports that show federal workers increasing in numbers and salary.

Ever wondered how many workers are employed by your state and local governments? Here they are, all collected in one easy place by "industry" and with payroll totals.

Government Workers Making $150,000+ Have Doubled Under President Obama Gregory White Nov. 10, 2010, 3:18 PM Image: The White HOuse Salaries for Federal workers have soared since President Obama took office in 2009, with the number of workers making $150,000 or more doubling, according to USA Today (via the Atlantic). The real winners here: those government workers employed for 15 to 24 years. That doesn't jive well with the deficit commission's plans for a 10% cut in Federal jobs by 2015. Or perhaps it does, as the deficit commission may be able to reach its cost cutting aims with fewer...

What began as a startling NAACP suit accusing US Airways Group Inc. of discriminating against its African American employees at Philadelphia International Airport has ended with a settlement and a pledge by the airport's largest carrier to strengthen workplace diversity. On the matter of the monetary terms and whether the three former US Airways employees named as plaintiffs in January's federal class-action suit would get - or even want - their old jobs back, no one would say.

 MY SUMMATION: Federal workers earning $150,000 or more a year has increased 10x  in the past five years and doubled since President Obama was inaugurated Already, some Republicans are going to use the lame-duck session that starts Monday to provides alternatives to Obama's plan to give a 1.4% across-the-board pay raise to 2 million plus federal workers. read the rest at USA Today --->>  http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-11-10-1Afedpay10_ST_N.htm   

Federal workers should not hold their breath waiting for salary increases, despite a report that they have fallen further behind private-sector employees in pay. Private-sector workers were paid more by an average of 2.1 percent last year, according to the Washington Post. But to be fair, for a number of job categories -- accountants, nurses, chemists, surveyors, cooks, clerks and janitors among them -- federal pay is greater. And, Republicans say, federal pay is greater still when the value of health, pension and other benefits is taken into account -- an additional $40,785, compared to $9,882 for private employees. National...

The Washington area led the nation in employment growth with 56,000 new jobs created over the 12-month period that ended in September, according to federal government data released Wednesday. The gains were fueled by private-sector hiring and drove the region's unemployment rate down three-tenths of a point from a year earlier, to 5.9 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. "It shows job growth is nipping away at the unemployment rolls," said Stephen S. Fuller, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University. "We had quite a bit of job growth in a wide range of...

The most intriguing questions among readers of our site often concern pay and benefits. Specifically, many people want to know: "How much will I make next year?" Leaving aside the issue of whether federal employees are over or underpaid on average, it is possible to make a reasonable guess about your future income based on past actions by the President and Congress. Obviously, in an election year, anything can happen but, when the rhetoric subsides, federal employees have come out reasonably well on pay and benefits issues that have come up regardless of which party is in power in the...

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.

Look who's trying to buy the electionRich Lowry Last Updated: 12:49 AM, October 26, 2010 Just when we'd been told the Chamber of Commerce had bought the election, along comes the American Federation of State, Country and Municipal Employees to pour nearly $90 million into the campaign. According to The Wall Street Journal, this makes the public-sector union the biggest spender of all the outside groups. The National Education Association and the Service Employees International Union rank among the top five. Collectively, these three unions representing millions of public workers -- only the SEIU is majority private -- are devoting...

Raises may be small and bonuses a distant memory of better times, but one workplace number isn't frozen: Employees can expect a double-digit percentage increase next year in the cost of health insurance they get through the office. This year's health care overhaul combined with other factors will push the average cost per Houston employee to $4,946 next year — 12 percent more than this year — according to Aon Hewitt, a human resource consulting firm that tracks medical costs. The figure includes insurance premiums and insurance-related expenses such as co-pays and deductibles. The firm surveyed 350 large employers nationwide,...

At least six people identifying themselves as National Public Radio employees have collectively given $2,560 to Democrats in the past five years, according to campaign finance data.NPR’s own internal policy prohibits political contributions, but the network maintains that none of the six employees were required to abide by the ethical guidelines.Publicly available data on OpenSecrets.org reveals a total of 10 contributions from six employees, all of whom listed “National Public Radio” or “NPR” as their employer. One employee made multiple donations.NPR instituted its ethics policy in 2004, according to NPR ombudsman Alicia Shepard.

Deductibles, the share of medical costs that employees pay annually before their plan kicks in, will go up to $300 for individuals, an increase of $100. For families, the new deductible will be $900, an increase of $300. In addition, Boeing is instituting a copayment of 10 percent after the deductible has been met. The copayment will rise to 20 percent in 2012. But the most telling portion of the article is this snippet: In a letter mailed to employees late last week, the company cited the overhaul as part of the reason it is asking some 90,000 nonunion workers...

Which do they get: defined benefit pensions, or defined contribution retirement plans? The answer is "yes." America is heading toward a financial reckoning because of exploding government spending and debt. There are too many government employees doing too little work, and getting paid salaries and benefits far beyond what private sector employees make. A new Washington Post poll demonstrates that American voters have figured out that the pay and benefits received government employees are far out of line with their own careers: according to the poll released today, more than half of Americans think Federal employees are overpaid, and three-quarters...

Representative Brad Sherman (D-Calif) has introduced legislation that would eliminate state Right to Work laws. The bill, H.R. 6384, would prohibit states from allowing workers to decline becoming union members as a condition of employment. Currently, 22 states allow workers to refuse to become union members. “For too long we have allowed business interests to persuade state legislatures to pass laws permitting employees to refuse to participate in the unions that are representing the workers’ interests,” Sherman said. “This ‘divide-and-conquer’ strategy pits individual interests against the solidarity needed to effectively pressure management into meeting union demands.” An effect of right-to-work...

the U.S. Census Bureau sent 140 administrators from Colorado and nine other Rocky Mountain and southwestern states to Las Vegas for several days to discuss "lessons learned" from the 2010 census that could be applied in the next census in 2020. The trip cost an estimated $100,000 in airfare, meals and hotel costs and is coming under withering criticism from a Colorado congressman. "It's impossible to argue this without saying these folks took a vacation and they took it at taxpayer expense," said Rep. Mike Coffman, a Republican congressman from Colorado. "I mean I think it's the equivalent of theft,"...

Recently circulated news stories charging that federal employees are grossly overpaid — allegedly earning more than twice their private industry counterparts — are based on “a flawed reading of statistical data,” according to Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.). In a Sept. 15 speech, Kaufman disputed a USA Today article purporting that federal workers’ pay dramatically outstrips that of their private-sector counterparts. The newspaper’s analysis, which was based on Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) data, concluded that, in 2009, federal employees received an average total compensation in pay and benefits of $123,049, while private sector workers made $61,051. The newspaper’s analysis did...

Federal workers reacted with anger as news spreads of a Colorado Congressman's proposal for a 2-week furlough for the nation's federal employees. "I think it's unfair," said Linda Pultz, a worker at the Department of Education. "Why should we all have to take two weeks off unpaid and not get anything out of it because I don't think it's going to solve anything."

Barack Obama's biggest supporters these days aren't Democrats. They are: * The unemployed, who make up 9.6% of the workforce * Government workers, who make up 14.1% of the workforce These groups represent nearly a quarter of workers, and of course they support the man who sends their paycheck.

Are federal employees paid too much or too little? The controversy does not appear to be going away. The Office of Personnel Management is certainly aware of it and has defended its work that shows federal employees are underpaid by about 22%. In fact, as the year wears on, the agency seems to be getting more aggressive. Early in the summer, the OPM director made statement with an acknowledgment of a "credibility problem" and that he would be enlisting outside experts to resolve the dispute. "Everybody has their formula, and says, ‘My formula's right, your formula's wrong,' " he commented...