12 Facts That Will Blow Your Mind – Federal Employees And Members Of Congress Are Getting Rich

"I can’t argue that some federal employees are over paid and Government is too big. But 80K ain’t possible for a clerk."

Yes I admit I took some liberties and was a bit facitious(sic). She is not exactly a clerk as she has duties more responsible than that but she does not have a degree. I do know she was offered a job in the family business at $65K and she turned it down and said it was significantly less than she is currently making.

#2 In 2005, 7420 federal workers were making $150,000 or more per year. In 2010, a whopping 82,034 federal workers are making $150,000 or more per year. That is more than a tenfold increase in just five years.

#8 In 2005, the U.S. Department of Defense had just nine civilians earning $170,000 or more. When Barack Obama took office, the U.S. Department of Defense had 214 civilians earning $170,000 or more. In June 2010, the U.S. Department of Defense had 994 civilians earning $170,000 or more.

I think both of these have been debunked elsewhere as selective presentation of statistics. There are 2.7 million Federal employees, so the total number above $150k (82,034) represents the top 3% of the overall civilian workforce. Additionally, career civil servants' salaries are capped at the amount made by the head of the agency they work for, so when the head of the agency gets a raise, everyone in the paygrades (SES, GS15 etc) below him that are impacted by the cap automatically get one as well. So what we're seeing here is probably (because a full analysis has never been done, to my knowledge) a bunch of folks who were capped at just under $150k getting small increases (<2%, iirc) that took them to just over $150K.

In any event, we had a what? $1.8 TRILLION deficit last year? The Federal employee salary issue is peanuts, and the focus on it is symbolic and designed to draw focus/attention away from making cuts in areas that WILL make a difference.

I can’t argue that some federal employees are over paid and Government is too big. But 80K ain’t possible for a clerk.

You are technically correct, but disingenuous.

In "public service, it is common for many with barely competent clerk ability to be promoted in title only, with the corresponding pay scale; it need not happen only once.

Makes that person still a clerk.

Been there, seen that.

Government workers still get pensions, something that is unheard of in the private sector,

With all due respect, that is not correct. No government employee hired after 1986 gets a pension. That only leaves a few employees with 25+ years of service who might get a pension. Everyone else has what's essentially a 401(k) program.

The old program was called CSRS. The newer program is called FERS, and everyone who was hired after February 1986 is under the newer system.

Wow, are you talking about federal employees? Our state employees all get pensions, as do California state employees. That’s the problem with the state budgets.

So, federal employees, like Post office workers, etc. don’t get pensions any more?

“In “public service, it is common for many with barely competent clerk ability to be promoted in title only, with the corresponding pay scale;”

That should not happen. To be promoted a person is supposed to meet the requirements of the higher position, and that is supposed to be verified by the Civilian Personnel Office that supports the hiring agency.

Now in some areas of DOD they tried to implement a system that rewarded great performers and actually punished poor performers (National Security Personnel System or NSPS). Of course the unions screamed and cried about it being unfair so after a couple of years it was scrapped.

The government system is designed to be fair, unfortunately it is run by people and some are unscrupulous. I will say that most government employees are hard working and dedicated employees that actually started service to make a difference. My dad was a professor of elementary education at a major university. He use to say there are two kinds of people that want to be teachers, those that really want to make a difference in a child's life, and those that want every summer off. I suppose a similar analogy could be made for government employees.

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