Posted on 02/03/2010 7:26:09 AM PST by Poundstone
Excerpt: The budget answers critics, including Scott Brown, the newly elected Republican senator from Massachusetts, who say federal civilians earn much more than private-sector workers. There's a reason for that. Federal workers are better educated.
"The Federal Government hires lawyers to tackle corruption, security professionals to monitor our borders, doctors to care for our injured veterans, and world-class scientists to combat deadly diseases such as cancer," the budget says. "Because of these vital needs, the Federal Government hires a relatively highly educated workforce, resulting in higher average pay."
Consider these stats: Twenty percent of federal workers have a master's, professional or doctorate degree, compared with 13 percent in the private sector. Fifty-one percent of federal employees have a college degree of some sort, but only 35 percent do in the private sector.
Frankie and Flo may not be smarter than other folks, but they do have more schooling, and they get paid accordingly. They are also substantially older, and that contributes to higher pay -- 46 percent of federal employees are 50 or older, compared with 31 percent of private-sector workers.
Although the section doesn't say so, comparing overall federal and private-sector pay is misleading in another way, because Uncle Sam doesn't employ many people at the bottom of the wage scale the way industry does.
Job-for-job comparisons tell a completely different story. In fact, government figures indicate that federal employees are underpaid by 26 percent compared with their counterparts in similar position in the business world.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
“There’s a reason for that. Federal workers are better educated.”
Bullshit.
That's always been my impression of the source of the complaint.
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“In fact, government figures indicate that federal employees are underpaid by 26 percent compared with their counterparts in similar position in the business world.”
Is this factoring in their cadillac insurance plans, insane retirement benefit packages and job counseling, “golden parachutes” when they get bumped for political reasons and virtually fire-proof employment contracts? No, huh?
” bullshit “ ditto here. Our exact problem is the fact that these over educated asses are running our lives.
I would like to know the percebtage of gummint workers that are immigrants or first-generation of immigrants. (AKA “affirmative action hires”)
Nothing in the private sector to compare with that, is there.
Let’s turn it upside down and point out ...
The feds pay better and give away lavish benefits and pensions so the more educated clamor for the income.
Time to limit govt wages and track them to the private sector. If govt decisions hurt the private workplace then the public sector pay should hurt as well.
FACT: They're better paid because of unions, control of funding and cronyism.
“There’s always someone around who imagines that federal employees do nothing all day and still get paid.”
Probably formed by those who have ever walked into a gubmint office ANYWHERE.
There’s a reason for that. Federal workers are better educated.
Slight problem with this conclusion. If Federal Workers are so educated and so brilliant, then why are they working for the government when they could be earning a zillion dollar salary in private industry.
Why Federal Workers Deserve What They Get:
SEC workers investigated for porn-surfing. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/feb/02/sec-workers-investigated-for-viewing-porn-at-work/
The work computer of one regional supervisor for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed more than 1,800 attempts to look up pornography in a 17-day span: “It was kind of distraction per se,” he later told investigators.
But he wasn’t alone. More than two dozen SEC employees and contractors over roughly the past two years have faced internal investigations after they were caught viewing pornography on their government computers, according to records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and other public documents.
The activities of porn-surfing SEC workers, a small fraction of the overall work force, have been serious enough to warrant a mention in each of the past four semiannual reports sent to Congress by the SEC’s office of inspector general.
In response to the open records request by The Washington Times, the inspector general’s office provided more than 150 pages of records and transcripts on the investigations, but declined to identify the employees involved. The office noted that disclosure of the employees’ names “could conceivably subject them to harassment and annoyance in the conduct of their official duties and private lives.”
I would like to see any of these people leave the Federal Government right now and get a job with equal pay and benefits in the private sector. Never mind getting a job in the private sector with higher pay. And not some quasi-government “non-profit” company.
What a load of bull.
This has been the line coming out of academia for the past 25 years. “The real future is in the public sector, see? We need more of our best and brightest to bypass industry and come to work in public service.” Obama’s plan to wipe away their student loans after ten years proves this.
There is nothing in here that lays out a true analysis of the situation - just a lot of high-level generalities. What are the degrees they hold? Are the degrees relevant to the job they are being paid for? How effective are the departments in which they are employed? Should the government even be involved in the matter to begin with? They may have been there a long time but do they have 25 years of experience or one year 25 times?
In the real world you can only get paid on your resume or your experience for so long. Eventually you have to produce results. In the government if you don't produce results you ask for more money.
“If Federal Workers are so educated and so brilliant, then why are they working for the government when they could be earning a zillion dollar salary in private industry.”
Actually, with all the outsourcing and H1B pressure in private industry, the federal works have probably made the smart decision by going to the government for work. Frankly, I’m so sick of what goes on in private industry, I would gladly work a government or union job, but if my current job goes away, I will probably try starting a business first, that has been my dream for a long time. Then if that doesn’t work, I’ll look for a gov/union teat. hehe
And if they’re so highly educated, professional, and good at what they do, why are so many of them needed?
My brother was hired on to one of the fed bureaucracies in DC for a few years. His descriptions of the lack of accountability and the laziness were astounding. His experience working there turned him from a lib into a conservative.
All the eduction seems to have taught them is how to look busy.
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