Posted on 11/21/2012 7:43:35 AM PST by IbJensen
Federal employees—who work on average a month less than private-sector workers and get paid more—are lobbying for higher pay.
Government unions know that Congress is looking for ways to nip and tuck the federal budget, and they’re counting on being left out of the deal.
“The Federal-Postal Coalition—a group representing more than two dozen federal employee unions—pleaded with Congress on Monday to spare their members in any deal related to the ‘fiscal cliff,’” Government Executive reports.
Government unions went all out to re-elect the President—the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) spent more than any other outside group on Obama’s campaign. While only about seven out of 100 private-sector workers are unionized, in government, that number rises to 36 out of 100.
Now they’re complaining that they don’t get paid enough.
Federal employees and Members of Congress are working under a two-year “pay freeze,” though “individual employees still remain eligible for raises if they receive promotions, step increases or performance awards,” explains Government Executive.
Of course, these are employees who are paid by the taxpayers. So their compensation deserves every measure of scrutiny. Unfortunately, faulty comparisons to the private sector have been muddying the waters—something Heritage’s Jason Richwine and the American Enterprise Institute’s Andrew G. Biggs have been working to correct.
When Richwine and Biggs wrote in The Washington Post November 18 that government unions were using bogus numbers to push for raises, a firestorm of reader comments erupted. As of this morning, there were 2,480 comments on the piece.
One of the main issues: “The Federal Salary Council, an advisory body of academics and leaders of public employee unions, suggested last month that federal workers are underpaid by an average of 35 percent relative to nonfederal employees.”
What’s behind the huge gap the council is claiming? For starters, a huge omission: benefits packages. Richwine and Biggs note:
First, the pay agent doesn’t consider fringe benefits, even though benefits for federal workers are famously generous. In addition to a 401(k)-type pension with a handsome employer match, federal workers receive a traditional defined-benefit pension—for which they contribute less than 1 percent of salary—as well as retiree health coverage. A Congressional Budget Office study published in January found that the federal retirement package was 2.7 times more generous than what is paid by large private-sector firms. Federal workers also receive more paid vacation and sick days.
According to their own reporting, government employees work fewer hours than private-sector employees. To measure this in the fairest way possible, the American Time Use Survey allows workers to record all of their time, including any hours spent working from home or outside normal business hours. Using this data, Richwine found that government employees worked about one month less per year than private-sector workers.
And not only do they work less, they get paid more.
A January 2012 report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) showed that federal government employees receive substantially higher compensation than similarly skilled workers in the private sector. The report’s methodology and conclusions were broadly similar to previous studies from both The Heritage Foundation and the American Enterprise Institute. Richwine, Biggs, and Heritage’s James Sherk concluded:
Federal compensation should be scaled back and reallocated to reward the most productive federal workers. The government should replace the seniority system with performance pay, paying higher salaries to good workers without guaranteeing raises for mediocre performers.
Government unions worked hard to re-elect President Obama, and now they’re expecting a payout at the expense of taxpayers. Any suggestion that their pay is below market levels is completely false.
Reduce the number of federal employees in all departments by not less than one-third. This year. Next year, another one-third. Reduce the salaries of all government employees, including the President and Congress, to the average for the American workers. We should want it fair and balanced since that is the cry the Democrats use repeatedly. Let's force the central socialist government to follow their lead . . .
We now have a government that's easy to hate!
As a federal employee ... I know that is BS. I am an engineer who worked for a defense contractor for 20 years before moving to the government.
I make less now, but nowhere near 35% less ...
Are you at work now?
I’m an over 70 retiree and at home on my own time.
The federal retirement from 1984 forward sucks! I don’t know why people think it is so great. Federal Government is working tomorrow ALL Day. Most private businesses are off. Most private businesses are giving great Christmas Parties and bonus’. Not the federal government.
Federal ... not in my field.
You might think differently if you take a hard look at retirement plans in the private sector.
My Grandfather retired from Coca Cola and now that is a retirement program.....Oh and it is not a government program or company.
Do you work for the central socialist government?
Who is working on Thanksgiving Day besides cops?
As a government employee, I can tell you that people don’t work here for the money. They work for the benefits. The biggest benefit is the reluctance of the government to get rid of you after 50.
Also people want more government workers. They want more people working in the DMV and Social Security and Medicare and etc etc. They just want them to work for free. Or get their dead azz off STD/LTD and go back to work.
That’s annoying, because after all we all have to pay for Coca Cola pensions.
Ah no wait, we don’t. Coca Cola is a private company that doesn’t get to take money from taxpayers by force of arms.
Whereas we all have to pay for bloated Government pensions. Also: Government pensions are not subject to market forces and can grow without let or hindrance.
Two excellent reasons why all Government pensions (indeed: all conciliary to Government workers) must be subjected to dispassionate scrutiny.
What world do you live in where “most private businesses are giving great Christmas Parties and bonus’????? Surely you jest.
Where the usual inane comments of that nature on FR come from ... the DC bubble.
I understand that. But times have changed and Coca-Cola isn't exactly an average employer. Outside of companies like Coke or unionized jobs like the UAW there is usually a great difference between government retirement and private sector retirement.
Talk to a cross section of people working in the private sector today and compare their retirement plans (if any) to government plans.
Not only that, but government employees have almost 100% certainty that the government retirement plan will be there when they are ready to retire. Many private sector plans go belly up before employees are able to retire. Sometimes even people already retired lose their retirement when plans go bankrupt.
It's a whole different world when you work outside the government in 2012.
I worked for private sector for 25 years before my company outsourced my job in 2002.
I do the same job now, for the Feds. It is, however, much more complex due to regulations.
I just now, this year, passed by 2002 salary. The benefits are non-existant, and I get 10 holidays and 4 weeks vacation, which I earn.
In my other job, I had earned 5 weeks vaca and was closing in on 6. We had 14 Holidays. I also had my yearly planner purchased for me, my home internet was paid for by the company for when I needed to work from home, and no one made a huge fuss if we had training conferences.
I’m not the one complaining...I feel like I’m serving my country. The other yahoo’s on here sound like the evious occuturds.
I am thankful for my job and I am honored to serve my country, but it’s not the pot of gold some of you think it is.
This salary stuff is the wrong, and to be blunt stupid, discussion to be having
What we should be talking about are things like getting the Gvt to move away from the GS scale (with it’s automatic step increases) and into a pay for performance structure. And eliminating waste from unneeded, redundant positions. Then loosening up the laws that prevent poorly performing Federal workers from being easily fired. And finally reforming the hiring process so that the best qualified candidates get the jobs.
Arguing about salary is nothing more than a distraction. Especially since the salary numbers are dwarfed by the inefficiencies caused by not addressing the points above.
The VA nurses and doctors are working. The military is working. The flight controllers are working. Firemen are working. I’m sure there are others...
But, of course, the 855 White Hut employees, the lousy State Department and a score of others are not only not working tomorrow, but do very little of substance during the year.
The government does much more R&D too ... we are on the cutting edge of technology development ... and for that we are willing to get paid a little less.
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