Whoa! Whatever happened to the notion that those who go to work for the government are making a financial sacrifice?
According to a recent study on federal and private sector pay by the Cato Institute, and based on U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data, “The average federal worker earned $100,178 in wages and benefits in 2004, which compared to $51,876 for the average private-sector worker.”
When considering wages only, federal employees made an average of $66,558, more than half again as much as the $42,635 that the average private-sector worker earns in a year.
Not bad work if you can get it, and a lot of people do. There are about 1.9 million civilian workers in the executive branch.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis is also reporting that federal compensation has been a hare to the private compensation’s tortoise. Since 1990, average government compensation has ballooned 115 percent, while private sector compensation has increased only 69 percent.
It’s the same story with average wages: 104 percent in the government, 65 percent in the private sector.
This is not to say that federal employees don’t do a good job. Many are dedicated employees who go to work early and go home late. But should their compensation be growing at half again the rate of the private sector?
Chris Edwards of Cato suggests that there are several reasons for the faster pace of federal pay. But he concludes, “The federal civilian workforce has become an elite island of secure and high-paid workers, separated from the ocean of private-sector American workers who must compete in today’s dynamic economy.”
At least a few lawmakers in New Jersey seem to understand the problems created by generous government-employee pay packages. Three New Jersey Democrats—yes, you read that correctly—are proposing 15 percent cuts in state employee salaries and benefits.
The legislation probably won’t go anywhere, since most New Jersey legislators and the governor are against the cuts. But at least someone out there is trying to say that the pace of government-worker pay increases cannot continue.
Is anyone in Washington listening?