the average federal worker makes $71,206 a year....

Pepe SilviaPepe Silvia Posts: 3,758
edited January 2010 in A Moving Train
i thought this was an interesting article from USA Today on the pay of federal government employees, especially pay hikes in a recession. i remember several years ago they gave the military a small raise, like up to 2% i think (and of course raised prices in the PX and Commisary) then our elected representatives gave themselves an even bigger raise. so, if you're looking for a job the federal government apparently pays really well

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/ne ... titialskip

For feds, more get 6-figure salaries
Average pay $30,000 over private sector

By Dennis Cauchon
USA TODAY

The number of federal workers earning six-figure salaries has exploded during the recession, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal salary data.

Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession's first 18 months — and that's before overtime pay and bonuses are counted.

Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time — in pay and hiring — during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.

The highest-paid federal employees are doing best of all on salary increases. Defense Department civilian employees earning $150,000 or more increased from 1,868 in December 2007 to 10,100 in June 2009, the most recent figure available.

When the recession started, the Transportation Department had only one person earning a salary of $170,000 or more. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees had salaries above $170,000.

The trend to six-figure salaries is occurring throughout the federal government, in agencies big and small, high-tech and low-tech. The primary cause: substantial pay raises and new salary rules.

"There's no way to justify this to the American people. It's ridiculous," says Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, a first-term lawmaker who is on the House's federal workforce subcommittee.

Jessica Klement, government affairs director for the Federal Managers Association, says the federal workforce is highly paid because the government employs skilled people such as scientists, physicians and lawyers. She says federal employees make 26% less than private workers for comparable jobs.

USA TODAY analyzed the Office of Personnel Management's database that tracks salaries of more than 2 million federal workers. Excluded from OPM's data: the White House, Congress, the Postal Service, intelligence agencies and uniformed military personnel.

The growth in six-figure salaries has pushed the average federal worker's pay to $71,206, compared with $40,331 in the private sector.

Key reasons for the boom in six-figure salaries:

•Pay hikes. Then-president Bush recommended — and Congress approved — across-the-board raises of 3% in January 2008 and 3.9% in January 2009. President Obama has recommended 2% pay raises in January 2010, the smallest since 1975. Most federal workers also get longevity pay hikes — called steps — that average 1.5% per year.

•New pay system. Congress created a new National Security Personnel System for the Defense Department to reward merit, in addition to the across-the-board increases. The merit raises, which started in January 2008, were larger than expected and rewarded high-ranking employees. In October, Congress voted to end the new pay scale by 2012.

•Pay caps eased. Many top civil servants are prohibited from making more than an agency's leader. But if Congress lifts the boss' salary, others get raises, too. When the Federal Aviation Administration chief's salary rose, nearly 1,700 employees' had their salaries lifted above $170,000, too.
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Comments

  • __ Posts: 6,651
    I'd like to see data on what people in specific jobs get compared to pay rates for those same jobs in the private sector.
  • JeanwahJeanwah Posts: 6,363
    ...USA TODAY analyzed the Office of Personnel Management's database that tracks salaries of more than 2 million federal workers. Excluded from OPM's data: the White House, Congress, the Postal Service, intelligence agencies and uniformed military personnel.

    My husband works for the USPS, and no doubt this gov't agency is hurting, they're talking about dropping a day of mail delivery still (they've been talking about it for years, now, because they're so in the red), there's been lay offs of middle management, and instead of moving people up when someone retires, they move people in from other areas of high seniority, rather than moving people up from lower ranks in seniority.

    There's certainly no salary hikes there, unless upper management is seeing it, even though USA Today has no data on them. I'd like to know how the gov't can afford to increase so many workers' salaries while letting the USPS agency of theirs FAIL MISERABLY. The gov't in no way has helped the USPS out with their financial issues ever. Hubby's job may be on the line, when employees in other agencies are seeing pay increases???
  • g under pg under p Surfing The far side of THE Sombrero Galaxy Posts: 18,200
    Don't forget those elected representitives get healthcare FOR LIFE!

    Peace
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