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At a time when workers' pay and benefits have stagnated, federal employees' average compensation has grown to more than double what private sector workers earn, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Federal workers have been awarded bigger average pay and benefit increases than private employees for nine years in a row. The compensation gap between federal and private workers has doubled in the past decade.

Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The data are the latest available.

The federal compensation advantage has grown from $30,415 in 2000 to $61,998 last year.

Last week, President Obama ordered a freeze on bonuses for 2,900 political appointees. For the rest of the 2-million-person federal workforce, Obama asked for a 1.4% across-the-board pay hike in 2011, the smallest in more than a decade. Federal workers also would qualify for seniority pay hikes.

Congressional Republicans want to cancel the across-the-board increase in 2011, which would save $2.2 billion.

"Americans are fed up with public employee pay scales far exceeding that in the private sector," says Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., the second-ranking Republican in the House.

Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., says a pay freeze would unfairly scapegoat federal workers without addressing real budget problems.

• Pay. The average federal salary has grown 33% faster than inflation since 2000. USA TODAY reported in March that the federal government pays an average of 20% more than private firms for comparable occupations. The analysis did not consider differences in experience and education.
• Total compensation. Federal compensation has grown 36.9% since 2000 after adjusting for inflation, compared with 8.8% for private workers.

The DancinMonarch from CAAZONE wrote:Perhaps this should be retitled "Federal non-workers collect double their private counterparts". Few have "jobs" with the government. Most have "positions". Little is demanded of the so-called federal workforce and that is pretty much what we taxpayers are receiving in return. I know people here in beautiful downtown Norfolk who make over $125K a year and all they do is shuffle paper and go to meetings. And that does not even take into account their benefits. How many gainfully employed private employees does it take just to support one of these people? It's an outrage. We are a nation of sheep to allow this to exist.

Grizalltheway wrote:*red herring alert*

The average CEO of a large company makes 400 TIMES more than the average entry-level employee. That's up from 40 times more in the '70s. But, something tells me you won't be starting any threads bitching about that.

AZGrizFan wrote:

Grizalltheway wrote:*red herring alert*

The average CEO of a large company makes 400 TIMES more than the average entry-level employee. That's up from 40 times more in the '70s. But, something tells me you won't be starting any threads bitching about that.

Whatever floats your boat. I don't work for a "large company".

And the fact that you're OK with this continued raping of America speaks volumes about your intelligence level.

Grizalltheway wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:
Whatever floats your boat. I don't work for a "large company".

And the fact that you're OK with this continued raping of America speaks volumes about your intelligence level.

When did I say I'm okay with it? I was just pointing out that a lot of companies COULD afford to pay their average employees more, give them benefits, etc, but they instead choose to pay those at the top exorbitantly.

AZGrizFan wrote:http://www.azcentral.com/business/artic ... parts.html

At a time when workers' pay and benefits have stagnated, federal employees' average compensation has grown to more than double what private sector workers earn, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Federal workers have been awarded bigger average pay and benefit increases than private employees for nine years in a row. The compensation gap between federal and private workers has doubled in the past decade.

Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The data are the latest available.

The federal compensation advantage has grown from $30,415 in 2000 to $61,998 last year.

...and, in a time when many, many hundreds of thousands of private sector employees are either losing their jobs completely or losing major benefits AND/OR taking CUTS in pay, what happens at the Federal Government level?

Last week, President Obama ordered a freeze on bonuses for 2,900 political appointees. For the rest of the 2-million-person federal workforce, Obama asked for a 1.4% across-the-board pay hike in 2011, the smallest in more than a decade. Federal workers also would qualify for seniority pay hikes.

Congressional Republicans want to cancel the across-the-board increase in 2011, which would save $2.2 billion.

"Americans are fed up with public employee pay scales far exceeding that in the private sector," says Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., the second-ranking Republican in the House.

Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., says a pay freeze would unfairly scapegoat federal workers without addressing real budget problems.

sounds like Mr. Kaufman still has his head firmly planted up his ass regarding what's going on in America.

A couple more points of note:

• Pay. The average federal salary has grown 33% faster than inflation since 2000. USA TODAY reported in March that the federal government pays an average of 20% more than private firms for comparable occupations. The analysis did not consider differences in experience and education.
• Total compensation. Federal compensation has grown 36.9% since 2000 after adjusting for inflation, compared with 8.8% for private workers.

Downright embarrassing. And finally to make matters worse, since January of 2009 total non-farm employment is down almost 4,000,000 jobs....and the Government? Yeah, there are now 25,000 MORE government employees than there were 18 months ago.

93henfan wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:http://www.azcentral.com/business/artic ... parts.html



...and, in a time when many, many hundreds of thousands of private sector employees are either losing their jobs completely or losing major benefits AND/OR taking CUTS in pay, what happens at the Federal Government level?



sounds like Mr. Kaufman still has his head firmly planted up his ass regarding what's going on in America.

A couple more points of note:



Downright embarrassing. And finally to make matters worse, since January of 2009 total non-farm employment is down almost 4,000,000 jobs....and the Government? Yeah, there are now 25,000 MORE government employees than there were 18 months ago.

So I guess it's safe to assume you make far less than the average federal government employee.

Fair enough.

AZGrizFan wrote:And the fact that you're OK with this continued raping of America speaks volumes about your intelligence level.

AZGrizFan wrote:

93henfan wrote:
So I guess it's safe to assume you make far less than the average federal government employee.

Fair enough.

swing and a miss.

93henfan wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:And the fact that you're OK with this continued raping of America speaks volumes about your intelligence level.

...says the loan shark.

93henfan wrote:You certainly don't work any harder than they do, as evidenced by the 17,000 + posts you've managed to sprinkle throughout daytime working hours.

AZGrizFan wrote:Meanwhile, Federal employees continue to get bonuses, raises, etc., all while doing 1/2 the work for twice the pay.

AZGrizFan wrote:

93henfan wrote:You certainly don't work any harder than they do, as evidenced by the 17,000 + posts you've managed to sprinkle throughout daytime working hours.

Yep. I'm the only one on the board during the day.

93henfan wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:


Yep. I'm the only one on the board during the day.

Well, we know that's not true, but you're the one crying the blues about how hard people work.

AZGrizFan wrote:what's the matter, 93? You a gubmint employee?

Did this thread hit a tad bit too close to home?

93henfan wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:what's the matter, 93? You a gubmint employee?

Did this thread hit a tad bit too close to home?

Oh course, you know I'm a government employee, for DoD in fact.

It does hit close to home for me, because the majority of my organization (some very cutting edge electrical engineers and some very talented business folks) could walk out the door for more money in the private sector.

And for someone like you who enjoyed the benefits of federal employment for a while, I'm surprised you're now fucking the horse you rode in on.

AZGrizFan wrote:

93henfan wrote:
Oh course, you know I'm a government employee, for DoD in fact.

It does hit close to home for me, because the majority of my organization (some very cutting edge electrical engineers and some very talented business folks) could walk out the door for more money in the private sector.

And for someone like you who enjoyed the benefits of federal employment for a while, I'm surprised you're now fucking the horse you rode in on.

Facts is facts, ma'am.

I'm not a fan of an expanding government. In ANY area...

93henfan wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:what's the matter, 93? You a gubmint employee?

Did this thread hit a tad bit too close to home?

Oh course, you know I'm a government employee, for DoD in fact.

It does hit close to home for me, because the majority of my organization (some very cutting edge electrical engineers and some very talented business folks) could walk out the door for more money in the private sector.

Grizalltheway wrote:

93henfan wrote:
Oh course, you know I'm a government employee, for DoD in fact.

It does hit close to home for me, because the majority of my organization (some very cutting edge electrical engineers and some very talented business folks) could walk out the door for more money in the private sector.

Bingo. My old man has been a civil engineer for the state of MT for close to 30 years, and makes probably a third or less of what he could if he had been in the private sector all those years.

93henfan wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:
Facts is facts, ma'am.

I'm not a fan of an expanding government. In ANY area...

Neither am I, nor do I believe we should fuck over the people working for it. Do you really begrudge me getting that whopping 1.4% raise in January?

AZGrizFan wrote:

Grizalltheway wrote:
Bingo. My old man has been a civil engineer for the state of MT for close to 30 years, and makes probably a third or less of what he could if he had been in the private sector all those years.

Q: so why stay?

A: FEDERAL RETIREMENT