posted August 11, 2010 01:44 PM         

At a time when workers' pay and benefits have stagnated, federal employees' average compensation has grown to more than double what private sector workers earn, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Federal workers have been awarded bigger average pay and benefit increases than private employees for nine years in a row. The compensation gap between federal and private workers has doubled in the past decade.

Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The data are the latest available.

The federal compensation advantage has grown from $30,415 in 2000 to $61,998 last year.

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.

"The data are not useful for a direct public-private pay comparison," says Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union.

Chris Edwards, a budget analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute, thinks otherwise. "Can't we now all agree that federal workers are overpaid and do something about it?" he asks.

Last week, President Obama ordered a freeze on bonuses for 2,900 political appointees. For the rest of the 2-million-person federal workforce, Obama asked for a 1.4% across-the-board pay hike in 2011, the smallest in more than a decade. Federal workers also would qualify for seniority pay hikes.

Congressional Republicans want to cancel the across-the-board increase in 2011, which would save $2.2 billion.

"Americans are fed up with public employee pay scales far exceeding that in the private sector," says Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., the second-ranking Republican in the House.

Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., says a pay freeze would unfairly scapegoat federal workers without addressing real budget problems.

What the data show:

•Benefits. Federal workers received average benefits worth $41,791 in 2009. Most of this was the government's contribution to pensions. Employees contributed an additional $10,569.

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

posted August 11, 2010 04:01 PM         

I think that many Federal occupations are more like a jobs program where people get in, pass probation knowing that after it is hard as heck to fire them, and then screw off by constantly calling in sick, taking 2 hour lunches or leaving early. I saw this ALOT when I worked for the state of Maryland and even at the county. I came from the private sector and was amazed at the lack of initiative by my county / state counterparts. I was even told that I needed to "stop coming in early, leaving late and getting my work turned in before the deadline" because it was upsetting the other employees (I wasn't even in competition with them because they were in a different section). At the time I was a surveillance specialist in bioterrorism and felt that getting things done and paying attention to my work was a heck of a lot more important than worrying about upsetting the others.

I was wrong and was promptly let go 2 weeks before my probation was up by the director that often was guilty of coming in late, calling in sick and spending time shopping during her 3 hour lunch hour.

Then I got another job at the county for a boss that really kicked butt. She was not like many county employees and set the curve. Sadly, she has gotten stuck with people that have passed probation and take advantage of the salary and perks.

My last job was Federal with the Dept of Defense and I can say that the group of us, along with the community services organization (also DoD) worked our butts off, often working overtime (no comp or extra pay) and coming in on weekends. We did it because we loved what we did. I worked for Soldiers and Families and the greater good is what pushed most of us to put in that extra time. That said, the job didn't pay much but it was very rewarding.

Now I am up for another federal job. The pay and benefits is good for this area and I know that there is going to be a lot of extra work- but again, it is working for Soldiers and Families and that is what I really enjoy doing, as do most in those jobs. The work is hard, time consuming and weekends, afterhours is a part of the job description and again, there is no overtime.

Back to the loser feds though. I have seen people work in similar jobs with the Military in transportation, housing and other areas where they are clock watchers only there for their paycheck. They could care less about the Soldier's problem. Many times the we (the Regiment and other FRSA's) had to take them to task at community meetings and even bring in the Garrison commander to set things straight.

For everyone of us though, there are about 50 more fed workers that just don't give a poop and they are really not worth the benefits and salary they receive.

posted August 12, 2010 06:11 PM         

i don't think there is any way to get it right and i don't think there is a huge organization anywhere that doesn't encompass a great deal of waste. ALL governments are notorious for this, whether monarchies, democracies, socialist states, whatever...

posted August 12, 2010 11:27 PM         

quote:

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For everyone of us though, there are about 50 more fed workers that just don't give a poop and they are really not worth the benefits and salary they receive.

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I'd say that is true whether in gov't jobs or private sector, it's just easier to get rid of private sector people since you don't have tenure there.

posted August 15, 2010 08:46 AM         

Figure 1 looks at average wages. In 2009, the average wage for 1.95 million federal civilian workers was $81,258, which compared to an average $50,462 for the nation’s 101 million private sector workers (measured in full-time equivalents). The figure shows that the federal pay advantage (the gap between the lines) continued its steady increase over the past decade.

Figure 2 shows that the federal advantage is even more remarkable when worker benefits are included. In 2009, federal worker compensation averaged a whopping $123,049, which was more than double the private sector average of $61,051.