Posted on 10/08/2015 3:57:33 PM PDT by huckfillary
Employees for the federal government earn far more than their counterparts in the private sector, according to a new study by the Cato Institute.
Federal workers’ pay and benefits were 78 percent higher than private employees, who earned an average of $52,688 less than public sector workers last year.
The study found that federal government workers earned an average of $84,153 in 2014, compared to the private sector’s average of $56,350. Cato based its findings on figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
But when adding in benefits pay for federal workers, the difference becomes more dramatic. Federal employees made $119,934 in total compensation last year, while private sector workers earned $67,246, a difference of over $52,000, or 78 percent.
“Since the 1990s, federal workers have enjoyed faster compensation growth than private-sector workers,” according to the study, written by Chris Edwards, the director of tax policy studies at Cato. “In 2014 federal workers earned 78 percent more, on average, than private-sector workers. Federal workers earned 43 percent more, on average, than state and local government workers.
“The federal government has become an elite island of secure and high-paid employment, separated from the ocean of average Americans competing in the economy,” the Edwards wrote.
The report noted that 2.1 million people work for the federal government, costing over $260 billion in wages and benefits this year.
Cato, a libertarian think tank, praised the partial pay freeze implemented between 2011 and 2013 and suggested that the government should reduce the size of its workforce and trim its generous benefits.
Cato said average federal wages “grew rapidly for a decade” before the pay freeze, but began increasing again in 2014.
“Federal pay should be reasonable, and we need competent people in federal jobs, assuming that the jobs are useful ones,” the study concluded. “But the government should not be one of the highest-paid industries in the nation.”
“Indeed, an advantage of reducing federal pay would be to encourage greater turnover in the static federal workforce,” the study said. “That would help more young people enter government and bring in fresh ideas.”
Here in NJ there is no shortage of teachers, cops, and firemen making tons of money (while the private sector employers flee the state to escape that burden). Those workers that can are following them, leaving masses of gibsmedats on the dole and illegals trafficked here to keep housing, classrooms, and Wal-Mart aisles full...
Duhhh and us suckers pay for it......
Great we all got a friend or neighbor on the Gmnt payroll..
but 75% more for just being on that roster and no accountability.........I Don’t Think So
Donald,Please reign in Gmnt non-essential salaries.
Thanks
These fed “workers” make 78% more? However, even that is probably very low because they both don’t do much of value and they often “work” only a small percentage of the time that they are at “work”. What a scam.
Of course. That’s because they are 78% smarter and 78% harder working and so essential they are never held accountable for anything. /s
Truly truly despicable.
And to think that 50% of government’s workers could be furloughed and no one would know the difference.
I just love that I have to keep working so I can pay for the retirement of people younger than me.
If the politicians can’t summon the political will to reduce public employees’ salaries and benefits, they should cut off the electricity, heat, A/C, and water to all government buildings, beginning with Congress and the White House. It’s the only way we’re going to discourage people from applying for government jobs or running for political office.
Nonsence. Productivity across the economy would surge, as the oppressive boots of countless parasitic federal bureaucrats would be removed from the necks of the productive class.
Two words:
Gut Them.
Bingo...Everyone knows it, but nothing is ever done about it. Middle America declines while government employees plan their vacations and tax funded retirements. I know folks in CA who retire in the freaking 50s with 70k, 80k, 100k and up for life! That wasn’t enough so they’ve showered these government employees with really great medical benefits...for life! And of course, all those folks vote to keep what they’ve got. If it means raising taxes on the beat down private sector, do it!
The financial divide has become pretty damn obvious.
And the worst part of this epic financial con-game is government and those in it are the most incompetent, inept, oppressive and wasteful organization in the entire country.
Inflation... This is the stuff of economic catastrophe.
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