When people think of “government jobs,” they usually imagine relatively low pay in exchange for good benefits and light hours. But that’s not always the case, especially lately.
In fact, government workers in a variety of jobs make significantly more cash than their private sector counterparts, on top of generous benefits, job security and guaranteed pensions. Want to know whether you’re getting a raw deal compared to government workers? Read on to find out.
Legislating equal private and federal pay
Before getting into whether private sector workers are total schmucks, let’s go over a very important law that should be making federal government and private sector pay roughly equal: The Federal Employees’ Pay Comparability Act of 1990. This Act has a two part scheme for making sure Federal pay stays competitive with private sector pay.
First, it gives a yearly increase across the board to all white-collar federal workers (on the GS pay scale). This increase is supposed to be one-half percentage point less than private sector wage increases, as measured by the ECI. Second, it calculates yearly locality increases for various cities and metro areas. The original objective of this second step was to bring federal salaries to within 5% of private sector salaries over a nine-year period (1994 through 2002). Once pay parity is achieved, locality pay adjustments are no longer to be made unless the gap subsequently widens to more than 5% (see more on page 4 here).
So is government pay roughly comparable to private pay? You be the judge:
Sources:
http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs041.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-03-04-federal-pay_N.htm
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107204575039290863672312.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0315776620100203
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/11/government-workers-earn-1_n_609593.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13327065/ns/business-personal_finance/
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-03-04-federal-pay_N.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/business/economy/21pension.html?pagewanted=2
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt_and_politics/article_d46cdd4a-7270-11df-9fe4-001cc4c002e0.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/business/economy/21pension.html?pagewanted=1
http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-04-26/news/20868777_1_city-workers-city-controller-ben-rosenfield-overtime
6 comments
Queenken
How does state government workers factor into this scenario? There is a difference in the pay structures for state level government employees. And on that side of the spectrum you see considerable shrinkage in compensation compared to the private sector counterpart.
Cutting the Deficit by Freezing Federal Employee Pay – Page 3 – U.S. Politics Online: A Political Discussion Forum
[...] Posted by Oreo NOT CORRECT: Government salaries are more than the private sector counterparts. Government vs. Private Sector Pay: Are You Getting Screwed? | Naked Law by Avvo.com In fact, anyone working for the Federal Government has had it fairly easy during this recession. [...]
Cutting the Deficit by Freezing Federal Employee Pay – Page 2 – U.S. Politics Online: A Political Discussion Forum
[...] [...]
Chili Dogg
The government salaries, increase in gov't employees, and pensions are not sustainable long-term. Even the government cannot void economic reality. The attempts to stave off financial disaster will be borne by the same exploited citizens who are bearing it now.
Will it work? Maybe, maybe not...
I hope to be living in Switzerland when we find out the answer to that question.
Government vs. Private Sector Pay: Are You Getting Screwed? [Graphic] « Economics Info
[...] Source [...]
John
That may be what the employee's are paying their employees, but that doesn't indicate the total cost that the private sector contractors bill the government for something and keep the overhead for the corporation.. i.e. the $3,000 toilet, etc.