Posted on 02/09/2010 2:16:13 PM PST by ezfindit
A new report from the Bureaus of Labor Statistics that was released today, shows that almost 15 million Americans are currently out of work and unable to find jobs. Worse still, those with jobs have not seen their wages increase much in the last 10 years. However, government workers are enjoying a boom in hiring and generous salary increases thanks in large part to very cushy pensions and other benefits.
The pay differential between public sector employees and the private sector shows a troubling trend. Government workers have benefited greatly, even during the severe recession, and their wages now outpace the employee compensation in private industry. According to recent research done by Mark J. Perry, professor of finance and economics at the School of Management of the University of Michigan government employees make on average 45% more than private sector employees.
(Excerpt) Read more at conservativedatingsite.com ...
I’m just curious...
How much do government burger flippers make compared to private sector?
How about government gas station attendants, vs private?
Government gardners vs private?
Government chambermaids and hotel workers vs private?
Government coffee barristas vs private?
Government fruit pickers vs private?
Government car wash attendants vs private?
Government dishwashers vs private?
Government waitresses vs private?
Government hotel valets vs private?
Any idea what the pay is for the above job classifications, worker for worker in government vs private?
Your post nails the true problem, while the article nails an easy target.
“I think the University of Michigan study must be working with aggregate numbers. The private sector number would include a whole lot of part-time workers at or near minimum wage at WalMart, Burger King, etc. Since the public sector is generally covered by “living wage” laws, etc., they can’t help but have a discrepancy.”
They - the private sector workers you mentioned - are also paying taxes to support the government workers, as many of those “temp” jobs are second jobs for working families and while helping them also takes the “family income” into taxable territory.
The fact is why should the average American citizen private sector worker be paying taxes to support levels of government employee benefits that they will never in their lifetime see. They shouldn’t.
Government employee benefits should not be part of collective bargaining. They should be set by law to be - skill for skill - never greater than the median in the private sector.
One reason many government salaries are as high as they are is phony pay scales; which I have seen directly in government job postings, where the tasks and responsibilities to be performed, as well as the skill and experience requirements are totally the same (in other words the job any applicant is being asked to do is exactly the same) but if the applicant has a higher academic degree they will be offered a higher salary - to do exactly the same job that can be done without that higher degree.
That rarely happens in the private sector, where, usually, if a higher degree is a requirement, then it is a requirement. If it is not a requirement for the work to be done then it is not a factor in the salary offered. Not true in lots of government jobs.
He could ask you the same question.
If government pays so highly for doing what you do, why aren’t you applying for that high-paying job?
In fact, for most of the people on this thread. If you are so poorly compensated for what you do, why don’t you go get yourself a cushy, high paying government job. And I don’t want to hear any excuses and self-sacrificing BS about how you would rather starve to death in a private job than become a millionaire in a government job.
BS. If you could give your wife/husband/children a far better lifestyle can guarantee their security, you would be in a government job so fast it would make my head swim.
So then, why aren’t all of you working for the government if it pays so vastly much more than you are currently earning at your present private job?
Fair question.
Out of curiosity sake, please least his salary and your salary for:
1. Starting pay
2. Five years of experience
3. Ten years of experience
4. Twenty years experience
I am not complaining about how much I make. He is. He said he worked for 30% less than his counterparts in the private sector. I’m very happy with what I make in the private sector although I would take their holidays and retirement plan. I wondered, if he was so poorly paid - why did he stay with that job. If I didn’t like what my job paid - I’d be looking for another one.
I did look up the site he mentioned - yes, government workers do seem to get paid more. I am in the ballpark but on the low end of the scale and I work for a high paying company. Most of the people who do what I do wouldn’t even hit the bottom end of the government scale. I see the government pays cleaning staff more than a good secretary or accounting clerk makes in this area.
I looked up federal jobs and the closest ones were at Ft. Leonardwood. There are no federal jobs in my field in this area so it’s not a possibility for me anyway.
Yes, it was a fair question - as I believe mine was.
Apparently janitors working for the government make $11-$15 an hour. Before the minimum wage was raised - hotel maids were making $6.75 - I think the jobs are equitable.
Chop the size of government, Federal and state, significantly and see what supply and demand do to those rents.
You’re on the wrong coast. The wealth within a hundred-mile radius of DC is obscene, as are the swanky cars on the beltways at rush-hour.
More divide and conquer!
In good times the private sector leaves the public sector in the dust!
Now we have obama!!!
MA toll collectors also get a full pension and free health care after thirty years or so.
New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago...all of these have sizable federal employee populations and their high cost drives up the average compensation of the federal employee. I doubt that government employment drives up much of the property value in these locations.
DC, I’ll give you, as no one in their right mind would want to live there, otherwise. Although, if you’re a certain color, you can live quite cheaply in DC, as long as you don’t mind fearing for your life most of the time.
5 years without a raise.
In 1989 I took a paycut in the private sector to bail out of a job going nowhere. In the new job we worked for a year on thee and four day weeks. Our pay was cut accordingly.
While the private sector took a bath in the early 1990's the public school teachers in our town went on strike because they considered their raise too small.
If the private sector is that rewarding, why do public employees continue to work for the government? Perhaps health care, time off, early retirement with fat pensions, and statutory protection against incompetency figure in the decisions. These are significant monetary benefits.
Making that kind of cash, Tripp must have been a GS-13. To get to that level, you must do more than type 30 wpm. Not saying she had any actual skills, but the position descriptions for GS-13s are more than ‘office assistant’.
I can see being against a large federal workforce, period, but it pains me to see normally sensible FReepers falling for the oldest trick in the book, that is, paying attention to sensationalist MSM headlines and flying off the handle.
*He recently told me he would be retiring later this year and will receive $87,000 a year in pension for the rest of his life.*
I’m pretty sure this is mathematically impossible, unless he started working for the feds when he was 16 and is now an SES employee retiring under the old system...and even them I’m not sure it’s mathematically possible.
E.g. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0306/033106rp.htm
Yes, that area is a bubble.
San Diego has some of the wealthiest zip codes in the U.S.
Homes 15 to 28+ million $ for miles.
“Government Workers Make 45 Percent More Than Private Sector Employees”
To be fair, you can’t just look at percentage comparisons of salary, you also have to look at how much more productive government employees are before you can make a judgment......
In the private sector I believe 5% are exceptional,
10% are above average, 40% are real good, 30% are
adequate, 15% are legacy nepotistic gold bricks.
Few, except the GB's, are overpaid.
Excellence trends toward the private sector due to reward.
Mediocrity trends toward the public sector due to security.
NOT THE TOP OF THE LIST
“Special Nurse” $350,000+
Municipal railway manager:$325,000+
“Administrative services” department head $280,000+
State college workers salaries:
JEFF TEDFORD UC BERKELEY HEAD COACH-INTERCOLG ATHLETICS $2,831,654
PHILIP E LEBOIT UC SAN FRANCISCO PROF OF CLIN___-MEDCOMP-A $1,979,362
TIMOTHY H MCCALMONT UC SAN FRANCISCO PROF OF CLIN___-MEDCOMP-A $1,945,717
RONALD W BUSUTTIL UC LOS ANGELES PROFESSOR-MEDCOMP-A $1,570,897
RICHARD J SHEMIN UC LOS ANGELES PROFESSOR-MEDCOMP-A $1,195,837
KHALIL M TABSH UC LOS ANGELES HS CLIN PROF-MEDCOMP-A $1,048,891
BEN BRAUN UC BERKELEY HEAD COACH-INTERCOLG ATHLETICS $998,569
http://www.sacbee.com/1098/story/1669273.html
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11/29/09
California debt may be half a trillion dollars
Dan Walters, Sacramento Bee / FR Posted by SmithL
Just days before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators finalized a water package, including an $11.1 billion bond issue, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer warned them not to do it. California is already deeply in debt, Lockyer warned, has huge budget deficits and can't afford another big bond issue. "The days of blithely heaping more and more debt burden on the general fund are over – at least they should be," Lockyer said.
The earmark-laden bond issue, the package's single most controversial element, raises an interesting question: Just how deeply in debt are our state and local governments? The answer: No one knows for certain, since debt is scattered through myriad agencies in many forms, but well over a half-trillion dollars is a fair estimate.
Lockyer's warning pertained to the state's "general obligation debt," which currently stands at $59 billion, and there are an additional $50-plus billion in general obligation bonds that have not yet been sold.
The biggest chunks of debt, however, are the unfunded obligations for pensions and health care of retired public employees. (Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
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NOTE: Gap For Calif. Retiree Health Care Grows To $52Billion CBS5.com | AP / FR Posted by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (CBS 5 / AP) ― The state controller's office on Tuesday found that California taxpayers are on the hook for more state government retiree health benefits than previously thought. Controller John Chiang's office issued a report showing the growing divide between what the state owes retirees for health and dental benefits and what it has saved so far. The gap has grown to nearly $52 billion, about $3.6 billion over last year's estimate. ...
"Even as we try to claw our way out of the recession and provide needed cash to the state's coffers, we cannot ignore the promise that we made to pay health and dental benefits for current state employees," Chiang said in a statement. "I urge lawmakers to reduce the impact on future generations by putting additional dollars into the annual payments so that we can invest those funds." (Excerpt) Read more at cbs5.com ...
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And these profligate pols expect the feds to bail them out with OUR tax dollars.
Great post. Pretty much on the money.
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