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Federal pay is just a symptom of the problem...the bloat of the federal government, which will grow and grow, even more unsustainable than it is now.
The fed. employee unions have had a pretty good racket going on for a while now. Pay, HC, benefits so far above what the rest of the country is experiencing...all on the back of the taxpayer.
This only highlights the need for the private sector to catch up more than anything.
Federal pay is just a symptom of the problem...the bloat of the federal government, which will grow and grow, even more unsustainable than it is now.
The fed. employee unions have had a pretty good racket going on for a while now. Pay, HC, benefits so far above what the rest of the country is experiencing...all on the back of the taxpayer.
What you are failing to understand is that many federal positions, like the Presidency, have to be filled by very qualified people. Hopefully they have a college education.
College educated people making about 16 to 25% more then people without a degree.
So, what you are saying is that the federal government tries and hire qualified people.
Good for them.
Now, should we shrink the size and range of government, so that those jobs become private sector jobs? Thats another debate entirely.
This only highlights the need for the private sector to catch up more than anything.
My Grandmother was a USDA meat inspector, government employee. She worked in her field for over 40 years. I forgot what class she was when she retired, but she was up there.
She went through constant training in Texas. She had to fly in to college station at least once a year for retraining on ecoli and other new bugs that people are having to fight in our food.
She probably was making 80K a year by the time she retired, with full benefits. She has now retired with full pension and great benefits.
But she worked for 40 years in a high stress job where there is little room for error.
Not every federal employee is a postman, and hell that job takes a good brain.
Federal pay is just a symptom of the problem...the bloat of the federal government, which will grow and grow, even more unsustainable than it is now.
The fed. employee unions have had a pretty good racket going on for a while now. Pay, HC, benefits so far above what the rest of the country is experiencing...all on the back of the taxpayer.
Again I ask. Why the bias against those who actually perform the duties of which they were hired to do? Why this complaint of the salaries and the benefits those who put in the actual work of administration, support, IT, processing, proof reading, analysis, fielding calls, but absolutely no complaint of the life time pay and benefits of the Congressional and Senate boozos in Washington? Their salaries are far above the doormen that work at those highrises in Manhattan.
My Grandmother was a USDA meat inspector, government employee. She worked in her field for over 40 years. I forgot what class she was when she retired, but she was up there.
She went through constant training in Texas. She had to fly in to college station at least once a year for retraining on ecoli and other new bugs that people are having to fight in our food.
She probably was making 80K a year by the time she retired, with full benefits. She has now retired with full pension and great benefits.
But she worked for 40 years in a high stress job where there is little room for error.
Not every federal employee is a postman, and hell that job takes a good brain.
My own wife is a federal employee (GS-14) and she flat works her ASS off. She travels constantly, brings work home, gets calls constantly on nights and weekends, and frankly, i don't even see how it's worth it although she rarely ever complains. She's in the Middle East right now and i won't be seeing her for another 2 months.
My mother is a retired federal government accountant and i know damn well she could've made far more money in the private sector.
I understand when folks say that our government is bloated, and that's fine. It's also true. But to get angry because civil servants eek out a decent living is pathetic.
What you are failing to understand is that many federal positions, like the Presidency, have to be filled by very qualified people. Hopefully they have a college education.
College educated people making about 16 to 25% more then people without a degree.
So, what you are saying is that the federal government tries and hire qualified people.
Good for them.
Now, should we shrink the size and range of government, so that those jobs become private sector jobs? Thats another debate entirely.
OBVIOUSLY, you didn't READ the report. It is the ones WITH advanced degrees who make LESS than PS workers.
Come back for some more spin, since that is completely opposite of what the report says, which you would have known if you had read it.
Quote:
Federal workers with a professional degree or doctorate earned about 23 percent less, on average, than their private-sector counterparts.
So...how are you going to get out of this one?
It is the BENEFITS that make the biggest difference.
Look at the graph at the [bottom]. It compares federal and private sector wages and benefits for workers at different levels of education. Federal workers with a high school diploma or some college earn more in wages and benefits than private sector workers. For workers with bachelor's degrees, wages are just about tied, but federal workers have better benefits. By the time you get to a master's degree, private sector workers are earning slightly more in wages, though their benefits still fall short. Workers with a professional degree or doctorate get just about the same amount of benefits in the private sector and the federal government—but those in the private sector make substantially more in wages. So while, overall, the government pays 16 percent more in total compensation than the private sector would for comparable workers, that's stratified. The government pays 36 percent more to workers with a high school diploma or less, and 18 percent less to workers with a professional degree or doctorate. link
and why shouldn't janitors have good benefits? We shouldn't be in a race to the bottom. In addition, if you are complaining that low-end federal workers have too high a floor then I complain that high-end federal workers have too low a ceiling and can be making much more in the private sector.
The benefits do make the biggest difference. The government still offers a pension and those are being cut left and right in the private sector. That probably accounts for a lot.
Anyway, there is really only a big gap among those without much of an education. That makes sense. Most people without degrees work in jobs that don't pay all that much. They also don't require the training and work that government jobs require.
The study looked at federal workers for a span of time that ended in 2010.
What they found was the the benefits package was higher than the private sector but stated that defined pension was the main reason. The study did note that in the private sector, this has largely gone by the wayside BUT it is also dwindling in the public sector. Any employee hired after 1987 does not get the CSRS defined pension plan. Soooo, the data, for these benefits is continually changing as the CSRS employees are gradually phased out. Each year, the numbers of them getting out of federal service grows. So while these numbers are true, they won't be true for much longer. In a few years, even doing nothing, those results are going to look VERY different. But no matter, that wouldn't be good for the scapegoating.
Two, the study found that those with advanced degrees in the public sector made less than those in the private sector, yet those with only high school diplomas made quite a bit more. Again, you will see this changing. The government used to hire lots of people out of high school. Those folks are in their 40s/50s/60s now. A degree was not required. Despite their lack of education, many of them performed very well, were promoted for doing good work, and stuck it out in the government for the long haul. These people are still there, probably in management positions at this point. Getting into the government NOW or in the last 10 years with just a high school diploma is just about impossible. I haven't seen one hired in ages. So, I think that data will be changing in the next few years also. Those meager high-school educated people will retire and then the studies will be a straight comparison of degreed people against degreed people.
I don't have a beef with the pay of federal employees. I do question their benefit packages. As civil servants their benefits should reflect those of the average citizen. The people for whom they work.
But even this is less in question than the many redundant jobs that abound within the civil service ranks.
For example. How departments of federal law enforcement do we actually need?
For example:ATF, FBI, DEA, US marshals, Secrete service. Boots on the ground I understand. How many levels of redundant managment exists?
In the service we were taught responsibility like cleaning always begins from the top down.
Our elected reps enjoy some of the best perks found anywhere in the country.
The best health care insurance, the best retirement benefits. How many of us are allowed to influence the stock market by enacting legeslation and then profit from it? insider training normally sends us normal folks to prison but not them. We worry about what the mail man is getting but the real issue is those at the top.
How did the former speaker of the house expand her personal wealth so quickly and in such a short time?
No we need to reign in our elected reps.
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