It turns out that you, Federal workers, should make more money.
That’s the conclusion of the Federal Salary Council, as reported by Ed O’Keefe at the Washington Post:
O’Keefe says:
“The Federal Salary Council is likely to hear an annual report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on where the pay of federal workers stands in relation to private-sector salaries. Given that last year’s numbers put federal pay an average of 22 percent behind the private sector, the new ones are likely to generate more controversy … Congress has not enacted a pay raise for federal employees for 2011. A draft bill in the Senate would set the increase at 1.4 percent, as recommended by President Obama
Of course, this story comes on the heels of a survey from the Post which indicates that more than half of Americans believe that government employees are overpaid! That news inspired us to spearhead a “Government Doesn’t Suck” march scheduled for tomorrow morning.
Elsewhere on GovLoop, we’ve covered this topic in depth:
- Are Federal Salaries Too High? (original question from Lisa Rein, WaPo reporter)
- Do Govies Make More Money? (GovLoop founder cites several articles across the web)
- The Rudest Question: How Much Do You Make? (blog by community manager Andy K)
So what do you think?
Do you deserve a raise?
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“Daily Dose of the Washington Post” is a new blog series created by GovLoop in partnership with The Washington Post. If you see great stories in the Post and want to ask a question around it, please send to [email protected].
Statistics are interesting because the Cato Institute always tries to show that government employees make far MORE than the private sector:
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/federal-employees-continue-to-prosper/
In some ways, I just wish we’d get rid of COLA (which, trust me, I really, really liked every January) and move to performance-based increases so there isn’t this negative perception.
Hmmm…..guess it depends who’s doing the study evidently!
Here’s one for the Heritage group which indicates otherwise. https://www.govloop.com/profiles/blogs/inflated-federal-pay-study
@ Andrew – I agree completely. Performance-based increases seems like a much more logical and cost-efficient way of paying govies.
Here’s an interesting article about performance-based pay and how it doesn’t always work out as planned.
http://news.cnet.com/Performance-based-salaries-dont-always-pay-off/2009-1069_3-997668.html
Interesting perspective from a cartoonist on the issue – http://fcw.com/blogs/john-klossner/2010/10/john-klossner-federal-pay-private-sector.aspx?s=fcwdaily_291010
@Heather – Awesome article and quite a bit of truth in it too!
I wouldn’t complain too loudly. Believe me: it could be worse. I work for the state of Florida as part of a state/Fed program. I am the equivalency of a GS-11, but because the state of Florida pays my salary, I make less than a GS-7. As we have several programs for which there are both state and Federal workers, this appears to be consistent: staties earn a little less than half what our Federal counterparts earn to work the same job. Furthermore, the state does not see fit to provide us with the same cost-of-living increases, merit-based raises, bonuses, or bounties that our Federal counterparts receive for doing the same job.
Interesting article in the FEDmanager today stating that GS workers on the lower end make more but higher end GS-ers make less than private industry…and the pay gap between federal and private industry is now 24%.
http://www.fedmanager.com/current_e-report.php#1895
@ Andrew – Well said! I’m right there with you!