• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Do government employees earn their living?

F

Ferocious

Diamond Member
I'm no Libertarian.

But I admit I'm a bit jealous of many people I know who work for the federal and local governments. With only one exception, they all seem to have it made.

If I was just starting out, I think my sole focus might be to get a government job.

Though I wonder if I'd lose that sense of satisfaction I currently get knowing that I fully earn my living every day. Well almost every day. 😛
 
I would hate to be the president, though being something smaller wouldn't be too bad. Like a mayor for example.
 
No-they do not earn their living. All they have to do is be good looking. John Edwards for example is possibly one of the worst senators, barely showing up for any senate meetings. Only reason he is a senator is his good looks.
 
Usually hired on through back channels and through friends etc .. They never have to fear losing their job so they never have to perform as well as those in the Private Sector
 
Although they do work, they have it made as compared with most of the rest of us. They are all overpaid IMO My brother in law works for the Dept of Energy. Counting his service time he has 30 years in and can retire anytime he wants. He jokes that he belongs to the KMA club, Kiss My A$$.. I'd be willing to bet that if the gov't cut all their wages 30% tomorrow that very few would quit and people would still be standing in line to get those jobs.
 
I can speak only for Canada, but up here civil service jobs arn't that great money. The workload is reasonable, though, and the benefits and pension are great. Much better packages than what many get in the private sector. But the average salary is lower for people with comparable credentials.

Edit: This comes from "common knowledge" and anecdotal knowledge. I've got nothin' to back it up.
 
Originally posted by: Kibbo
...civil service jobs arn't that great money. The workload is reasonable, though, and the benefits and pension are great. Much better packages than what many get in the private sector. But the average salary is lower for people with comparable credentials.

Edit: This comes from "common knowledge" and anecdotal knowledge. I've got nothin' to back it up.
Click to expand...

I'll back it up. I work for the PA state government as a Network Administrator.
I get paid roughly 36K per year with a good pension and health insurance benefits.
A similar job in the city of Pittsburgh only 30 miles from me.... would pay over 66K per year with similar benefits.
 
I will also back this up.

I have worked for/with/is contractors and they generally get anywhere from $5-10$ more per hour as a contractor vs a government employee and that's with benefits. You can get maybe up to $15 more but no benefits what so ever.

Some cases the sallery is up to 2/3 larger such as some IBM contractors.

Quite frankly it's not possible to live a middle class job in Canada on these wages unless you a) live alone, b) your spouse or significant other also makes comparable wages or your family props you up along the way. Not everyone is like that.

Plus you have to consider the employer. Currently in Ontario there's a deficit thanks to our last government who handed the current Liberal government a fantasy budget that turned into a nightmare once they saw how much in debt the province was. Sadly the Libs aren't any better then the Conservatives and so far it seems they have only one intention. That's to have the public service unions strike. While on strike these employees make at or less then minimum wage while at the picket line and sometimes nothing at all. Think about what that does to a faimly that has a house/car/kids etc and lets say both of them work in similar jobs. Now they are out 4/5 of their income minimum. Strikes can last months.

This is all so the government can save on wages and make up for the deficit and look good down the line when it's time for voter turnout.

Sad really.
 
Originally posted by: Kibbo
I can speak only for Canada, but up here civil service jobs arn't that great money. The workload is reasonable, though, and the benefits and pension are great. Much better packages than what many get in the private sector. But the average salary is lower for people with comparable credentials.

Edit: This comes from "common knowledge" and anecdotal knowledge. I've got nothin' to back it up.
Click to expand...

I worked in state government for various periods of time. I never saw much of the laziness or freeloading so often associated with government employment.
What I found really unusual was that the state would lay off, buy-out or simply make life to miserable for many to reduce the size of their payroll. An abundance of the professionals (many I knew personally) would band together to form private firms and then contract their services to the state for twice the money (or more).
 
Originally posted by: Caminetto
Originally posted by: Kibbo
I can speak only for Canada, but up here civil service jobs arn't that great money. The workload is reasonable, though, and the benefits and pension are great. Much better packages than what many get in the private sector. But the average salary is lower for people with comparable credentials.

Edit: This comes from "common knowledge" and anecdotal knowledge. I've got nothin' to back it up.
Click to expand...

I worked in state government for various periods of time. I never saw much of the laziness or freeloading so often associated with government employment.
What I found really unusual was that the state would lay off, buy-out or simply make life to miserable for many to reduce the size of their payroll. An abundance of the professionals (many I knew personally) would band together to form private firms and then contract their services to the state for twice the money (or more).
Click to expand...

I think most of our state employees are earning their money. It's the Federal employees who are overpaid for what most of them do. At least in my area and its wage scale.
 
Originally posted by: Kibbo
I can speak only for Canada, but up here civil service jobs arn't that great money. The workload is reasonable, though, and the benefits and pension are great. Much better packages than what many get in the private sector. But the average salary is lower for people with comparable credentials.

Edit: This comes from "common knowledge" and anecdotal knowledge. I've got nothin' to back it up.
Click to expand...
However, their pay is higher than the median pay rate for the work load that they do.

Personally I find a good portion of civil employees don't earn their living, because many are just hanging on their jobs for the pay check & retirement package.

I found civil IT workers tend to be a group of paper/delegation pushers. They don?t serve any purposes except for passing/delegate the works to contractors because they don?t want to be responsible if something go wrong. This trend created many unnecessary positions in the government that we can do with out.
 
Define "worth"???? Whenever I try to think about it in a serious, analytical way, it becomes devoid of any meaning. People either desire things or don't desire things. People do what it takes to get them or don't get them. "worth" is an abstract concept usually grounded in some non-sensical doctine of self-comparison or morality.

Everyone earns what they're worth in a democratic/capitalistic/contractual soceity. Proof? Is that someone pays it voluntarly and works it voluntarly. And that "someone" is far more qualified and more importantly justified to judge "worth" than you'll ever be since they're the one paying it.

If that does'nt make sense to you you'll anyways be full of envy.

Government workers are "worth" it since they are paying it and people are working it. US soldiers, obviously arn't, hence the sizeable increases in bonuses and pay for civilian NGO's in Iraq to fill shortages as of late. When equalibrium is reached, pay will be high enough and the govt will attract the number of desired individuals. Simple economics folks.

 
Originally posted by: Zebo
Everyone earns what they're worth in a democratic/capitalistic/contractual soceity. Proof? Is that someone pays it voluntarly and works it voluntarly. And that "someone" is far more qualified and more importantly justified to judge "worth" than you'll ever be since they're the one paying it.
Click to expand...

Of course there are jobs where you get to define your own compensation (in collaboration with colleagues) like Congressman and CEO.
 
Everyone gets to define thier own compensation if you think about it.

Political and education are a couple of many means of defining.
 
My mother does, she's been a nurses aid for the VA for over 20 years, and is slowly killing herself taking care of those guys.
 
Gov't jobs pay crap. They have a good amount of time off, and decent benefits, but they pay only about 2/3 of a private sector job. And personally, I would have a hard time being lazy, it would probably make time go much slower, and the frustration of bureucracy would drive me nuts. But then again, I'm high strung and need pressure to work well.
 
Originally posted by: Tom
Originally posted by: Skoorb
About half of them should be fired.
Click to expand...


that goes for everyone, not just government employees.
Click to expand...

Yes! My dad works for a local agency dealing with civil engineering and hates his boss because he feels he aims them in no specific diretion and they muddle around more than anything. The only time he gets things accomplished is when the boss get preoccupied with something else, and lets him work long enough before he tries to go in and decimate whatever they do.

So not everyone is a lazy bum, there are people who really WANT to do work and accomplish things, but some people just don't want that to occur...
 
Originally posted by: Skoorb
About half of them should be fired.
Click to expand...
The upper and middle management (read: non-working) half.

The other half has to work twice as hard to make-up for the said upper/middle managers.

Same thing in Industry, etc.

The people that do real work make the least amount.
 
What an odd post.

Let's keep in mind that a typical Repug response would be: "Well maybe you should have been smarter and looked for a job with them! Stop being jealous!"

Anyway, in my experience they get paid less than people in equivalent private positions so obviously you are not going to get the same product right? And do you want to make it even worse? Currently a lot of decent gov employees are attracted by the lifestyle. If you cut that out or pay them even less you are going to have even worse public servants.
 
Originally posted by: Zebo
Government workers are "worth" it since they are paying it and people are working it.
Click to expand...

It seems to me that because of the level of competition for government jobs, they are obviously not "worth" it. If it takes two days to get 200 applications for a position, the position is desireable for some reason. Either excessive pay, benefits or the ability to slack off.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top