Pay Gap: A Different Take (Government workers overpaid)

http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0506/051806pb.htm ^

[muawiyah]

On 9/11 government employees in the Washington DC area gave up the "low stress" part.

[freedumb2003]

As a federal employee, I completely disagree with this bogus "study." We don't make big bucks in the federal government, I assure you. Believe me, the taxpayers are getting their money's worth!

What do you pay for health benefits? When I worked for the State of California it was dang near mothing. When I left, I needed a $10k/year raise just to make a lateral net move.

[MediaMole]

So did millions of private sector employees around the country. We are all in the bullseye.

[dakine]

I've met you...or your 50,000 clones in DC.....

Fed Jobs are the slackers way to survive, they are for folks with no ambition/skills....

And that's the truth....

[mountainfolk]

Personal days may mean different things to different people. The firm I know about switched from vacation and sick days off to personal days which covers both former sick and vacation days off. Personal days are not an addition but rather a combination of sick and vacation time off. The holidays remain the same. Bookkeeping is much simpler for that small business.

[BW2221]

No, GM is a bad comparison because of all the UAW squeezed out of them over the years, which also benefited salaries employees ... and is why the Big Three are in so much trouble.

But generally those are a thing of the past with the global economy and Toyota kicking their butt.

[marktwain]

I have two close friends who are government attorneys. They make about $70 K a year, not counting benefits, which cost the government about another $20 K a year. They are great, productive guys, but both tell stories about how they are doing much, much better than they did in the private sector.

[muawiyah]

How many of you took Cipro for 6 months?

[durasell]

Then they must not be great lawyers. They can still be great guys, just not great lawywers. Starting salary -- right out of law school -- for the best lawyers is over $100k. If they make the cut, they can expect to jump to over a half mil in their first ten years out. If they switch from straight law to Wall Street, then the sky is the limit.

[muawiyah]

I don't think there are 50,000 USPS employees in the Washington DC area. However, there are about 800,000 throughout the country.

Do you like your letter carrier?

[muawiyah]

Toyota also shuts down for retooling. Their secret is in running a non-union shop but keeping most of the benefits (and doing it in a less urban environment).

[durasell]

Here you go --

http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2006/02/27/story4.html


Gov't starting salaries don't even come close.

[meyer]

TVA is more correctly thought of as a Nationalized Industry than a federal agency, although the law does put demands on them not ordinarily thought of as coming from a power company.

TVA is an oddity within the fed. Pay scales are remarkably similar to the rest of the utility industry. There is no civil service protection, though many departments are union. Social security is collected. Benefits line up fairly well with the utility world as well. And it might well be the only federal agency that isn't bathed in red ink.

Best thing about sick leave, though, is NOT HAVING TO USE IT.

That's for sure. But the second best thing about sick leave is that it is there when you need it. I burned up about 15 days after a fairly nasty car accident earlier this year. 6 of those days were in ICU. Glad to have sick leave when needed.

[Wristpin]

"I got 30 days off per year while serving in the Air Force! Of course now I only get 10 days per year in the private sector"

Apples and Oranges...Military leave is computed to include holidays/weekends while you are gone....according to the book.

[dakine]

Military leave is 6-weeks a year...if ya' work it right...

[Ditto]

I completely disagree with this bogus "study." We don't make big bucks in the federal government, I assure you. Believe me, the taxpayers are getting their money's worth!

What about your pension plan? How long do you have to work before collecting benefits? How much as a percent of pay do you contribute? What is the payout as a percent of salary? Is the payout indexed for cost of living adjustments?

How about health insurance? What do Fed workers pay a month for a family? What are the co-pays and deductibles?

I'm not down of Fed employees by any means and think most are talented and hard working. But there are many ways to be compensated aside from take-home pay. And the fact that very few Fed employees "move on" for better pay must say something. I have never met a USPS employee who didn't hate his job with a passion, and I also don't know one who ever quit that job.

[norton]

"It's not the big bucks. It's the four to six weeks vacation, generous health benefits, and defined benefit pension. All benefits that largely do not exist any more in the private sector."

Nope!

It IS the big bucks, the low performance expectations, the twisted accounting practices....AND everything you mentioned

[marktwain]

I am a government employee, and I started carrying a handgun after I appeared on international television explaining how what we did could help defeat Saddam in the first Gulf War. I also worried about Noriega's thugs for three years down in Panama.

But - I think it is not fair to say that government workers are at greater risk than are private sector citizens. Most of those who died in 911 were private sector, and, as I recall, the first to die of Anthrax in that attack were private sector from a publishing firm.

In the private sector, they have the risks, but not the support network that we do.

[dakine]

Fed workers...

Throw USPS in there if you want...all folks afraid of job competition

[norton]

Did I forget (pay) grade inflation?