[mom4melody]

Not for all federal employees. I left private sector in 2003 (not by choice, my job was outsouced).

I took a job with the VA in 2004.

Just now (Jan 2010) have I made the salary I lost in 2003.

I write Contracts - not an easy job and not for the uneducated or lazy. My salary? $40,875.00.

I don’t know where you gov’t employee haters get your stats but you are way off most of the time.

[CharacterCounts]

I don’t know where you gov’t employee haters get your stats but you are way off most of the time.

Did you learn the tactic of calling a person who says something you disagree with a hater from Alinsky?

[Lockbox]

I don’t know where you gov’t employee haters get your stats but you are way off most of the time.

Thanks for the information, please continue with additional information on benefits, vacation days, etc. so that we can have the true picture of government employee pay/benefits. I think most people think of the higher officials, most which are appointed with their higher pay.

[CitizenUSA]

I’m with you. I have no idea what these folks are talking about. I guess I understand the anger, but most of the posters have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. Federal pay in some jobs may be better than civilian pay, but in other jobs it’s less. The retirement is not what most people think. TSP is essentially a 401K type, employee funded retirement program with a % of employer matching contributions. The biggest benefit of government work, in my opinion, is job security—not pay and other forms of compensation.

As I posted on other threads, we WANT quality people in government jobs. The problem is not that quality people are being overpaid so much that we ask government to do too many things. It takes a lot of people to run a bureaucracy as big as the federal government. Eliminate programs and return federal employees to the civilian sector. Keep those in constitutionally enumerated jobs and pay them what they deserve.

Across-the-board cuts are asinine. That’s the easy way...instead of actually having to make choices, just punish everyone regardless of what they do, the amount of expertise they bring, and the quality of their work. Across-the-board pay cuts don’t actually eliminate anything other than further encouraging the best employees to leave government service!

[Psycho_Bunny]

Try not to extrapolate generalities to your specifics. There are a ton of great, underpaid people working for the various local, state and federal governments.

But compared to the private sector, the government is out of control.