The Dept. I was in with over 150 attys.
they All make way less than the outside.
Because it is not a profit making situation, during the 1990s over 19,000 of us in County civil service went
5 years without a raise.
Living in one of the most expensive counties in the U.S.
made it no fun.
*The private sector number would include a whole lot of part-time workers at or near minimum wage at WalMart, Burger King, etc.*
This point is made every time one of these stories gets re-re-re-reposted. No one listens.
*Living in one of the most expensive counties in the U.S.
made it no fun.*
Point 2—most of these jobs are in DC metro, where one needs to make 100K just to pay rent. Many other Feds work in NYC. Still more are stationed in every state capitol or large coastal port cities—all of which are more expensive to live in than Peoria, IL. Again, this point is made all the time; no one listens.
Point 3—a lot of Fed jobs are at the VA, which employs Docs & Nurses & Mental Health Practitioners. These employees are not cheap, of course.
Point 4—your local DMV guys/gals and toll booth collectors are NOT Feds.
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.