Federal workers earning double their private counterparts

[miri]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/income/2010-08-10-1Afedpay10_ST_N.htm

Do government employees get to retire at 30 years or age 55 with pay that exceeds SSI? And now some in government want to raise SSI to 70 for non govt workers?

is there a link comparing private/public jobs? Also wouldnt those earning the most money at the private levels skew the numbers way higher since they make the majority of the cash?

 

[Throckmorton]

These numbers mean nothing... They're comparing every federal job with every state/local job and every private job.

Talk about misleading use of statistics and irresponsible journalism.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

oh no you didn't! How dare you challenge the altruism of our public "servants"?

 

[MJinZ]

Breaking news.

Presidents of the USA make 100x the amount of the average taxpayer, are afford life long protection details etc.

"why do servants make more than the taxpayer who is paying their salary?"

 

[DaveSimmons]

Government doctors get paid more than grocery baggers -- OUTRAGE!!!

Public employee unions say the compensation gap reflects the increasingly high level of skill and education required for most federal jobs and the government contracting out lower-paid jobs to the private sector in recent years.

Probably not entirely true either, but the numbers as presented are meaningless.

 

[L00PY]

why do servants make more than the taxpayer who is paying their salary?

Probably because a very high percentage of those servants have college degrees, Masters', and PhDs. Their salary, when compared to the average worker (which includes manual labourers without a HS degree), is understandably higher.

Now if you want to break it out by work experience and degree, and compare those public servants with Masters to those taxpayers with MBAs, those with PhDs to MDs, and still find that the "servants" are making more, maybe you've got a reason to complain.

 

[Jadow]

does the govt need all these phds? or are they over qualified for the work they do?

 

[MotF Bane]

Now if you want to break it out by work experience and degree, and compare those public servants with Masters to those taxpayers with MBAs, those with PhDs to MDs, and still find that the "servants" are making more, maybe you've got a reason to complain.

This.

 

[Jhhnn]

No part time free market no benefit temporary workers on the federal payroll...

The top earning hedge fund manager made $4B in 2009, too- how many times the median pay is that, anyway? And he'll pay <17&#37; in federal taxes, too...

Righties are desperate to point the finger at somebody, anybody other than their free market deregulated international capitalist heroes in the Lootocracy. If those guys had their way, they'd be paying Americans Chinese wages, telling us we're lucky to get that.

 

[gotsmack]

does the govt need all these phds? or are they over qualified for the work they do?

Most likely not. They can staff the CDC and Los Alamos with high school grads that have AP credits in the sciences.

 

[OrByte]

bullshit.

 

[Starbuck1975]

I find it interesting that the current class warfare battle lines are being draw between the public and private sector.

The common rationale is that public employees compromise benefits and pay in favor of job security, where the private sector offers greater job growth potential at the expense of security. In a fragile economy, that is not the case. The private sector, facing the reality of decreasing benefits, wage stagnation and massive layoffs is obviously going to raise an eyebrow to public sector unions demanding job security, benefits increases and a system that permits retirements well before what private sector employees could even consider.

In a fragile economy, I think it is appropriate for private sector citizens to question a trend where politicians authorize public sector pay and benefits for political support, or abuse in a system not subject to audit or oversight.

Enough stories have hit the media to expose that corruption, greed and exploitation are not limited to the private sector. Just do a search on what is going on in the city of Bell in SoCal.

The predicted response is to divert the discussion to "hedge fund managers" and "evil CEOs" and "bank robber barrons". It is appropriate to feel outrage and demand action against Wall Street. It is also appropriate to feel outrage and demand action against a public sector compensation system that is simply unsustainable and padded with sweetheart deals handed out as political favors. The $26B bill passed today was a big love letter to teacher unions and first responder unions.

The argument can be made that were private sector citizens more politically active, we could prevent such abuses. Well, you have our attention.

 

[First]

This part was pretty funny:

&#8226;Pay. The average federal salary has grown 33&#37; faster than inflation since 2000. USA TODAY reported in March that the federal government pays an average of 20&#37; more than private firms for comparable occupations. The analysis did not consider differences in experience and education.

So experience and education are being disregarded entirely? Yeah, that makes plenty of sense.

 

[Jhhnn]

Maybe righties are desperate for a scapegoat. If it's not teh ebil libruhls, it must be the illegals, or public employees or somebody, anybody other than their corporate heroes...

Maybe public employees are a significant part of holding up the median wage, who've even begun to keep up with real inflation and cost increases... It's not that they're overpaid, but that the rest of america's debt slave suckas are underpaid...

 

[Lanyap]

I need to get one of those high paying federal jobs so I can stop gettng unemployment.

 

[jpeyton]

How many fast food joints does the federal government own?

Exactly.

 

[Starbuck1975]

How many fast food joints does the federal government own?

They might as well...they are already offering Happy Meals.

 

[Hacp]

How many fast food joints does the federal government own?

Exactly.

I'm sure the compensation was normalized for education levels.

 

[Throckmorton]

I'm sure the compensation was normalized for education levels.

The article specifically states that education wasn't considered. It's just an average.

 

[ProfJohn]

Are Federal government employees really worth $30k per year more in benefits than private employees?

$30k a YEAR!!!

I could give a free pass to people with advance degrees making good salaries, but it is their benefits that are driving us broke. Just like it was the benefits that drove the automakers broke.

My solution:
1. Make them pay for their healthcare like everyone else.
2. Eliminate all government pensions and make them rely on SS like the rest of us.

In essence their benefits should be similar to the benefits of a private sector employee making the same salary.

 

[woolfe9999]

These numbers mean nothing... They're comparing every federal job with every state/local job and every private job.

Talk about misleading use of statistics and irresponsible journalism.

It's a sucker "statistic" which has no meaning outside of political propaganda that gets repeated from time to time. Government jobs lean toward white collar. Private sector includes blue collar, retail sector, fast food, etc. They are not comparing like jobs to like jobs. It's a lie.

- wolf

 

[Acanthus]

Wow, that is the worst case of skewed statistics i have seen actually published in a national source in a very very long time.

I will never trust the USAtoday again.

 

[trenchfoot]

Beating up on public employees with a stick soaked in ignorance, envy and arrogance is typical of spoiled brats wanting everything for themselves.

 

[Double Trouble]

I don't see how this trend will ever reverse itself, the only logical thing to do is to find a job with the federal government and enjoy the good life.

Once the politicians figured out that they don't have to adhere to any kind of budget and that deficit spending was fine, there's no longer any limit to how much government employees can get paid.

During tough economic times, people in the private sector are seeing job losses and no wage increases etc. Meanwhile, government workers (especially unionized ones) are happily demanding and receiving juicy raises and job security. Benefits packages for government employees blow away benefits packages for the private sector for all but the wealthiest. Yeah, that hedge fund manager is making a billion, but regular employees are not. Government employees are ALL getting hefty benefits packages, all the way down to the lowest level worker.

 

[Vette73]

Another thing to add to all the BS others have found was this in the benefits section...

"Most of this was the government's contribution to pensions"

Problem with that is that mostly applies to OLDER workers, not those in the last 20 years. Older workers fall under the retirement plan known as CERS. With that plan there is no matching for the TSP (think 401k) but if they work for 25+ years they get a percent of their salary as pension. Newer Feds, like me, are under the FERS system. In that system we can get up to 5&#37; matching in our TSP/401k but our retirement pension is next to nothing.

I also can attest that I do not get anywhere near 40k a year in benefits. Now a CERS retired person may get that or more. So these numbers like most in this do not look at the whole picture, they just put up enough for some faux outrage.