I suggest a constitutional amendment mandating employees in the public sector to be paid equal and have equal benefits as those in the private sector for similar work. The Bureau of Economic Analysis has recently released it's annual report of pay levels by industry. In 2000, the average compensation (wages and benefits) of federal workers was 66 percent higher than the average compensation in the U.S. private sector. The new data show that average federal compensation is now more than double the average in the private sector. In 2008, the average wage for 1.9 million federal civilian workers was $79,197, which compared to an average $50,028 for the nation’s 108 million private sector workers. How can this be justified? It is time to put an end to this madness. Citizens in the private sector are being laid off while our tax dollars are paying federal employees almost double the compensation!
The problem with federal employees doesn't stop at wages paid. There is also the obvious issue of their pensions. We, as American citizens are paying for their pensions. They don't contribute to 401K the way people in the private sector have to. They are "entitled" to a pension. Why shouldn't they have to pay 401K the way we do? Why should they be paid more for the same work? They are not entitled to any preferential treatment.
You are comparing the salaries of white-collar federal employees, such as attorneys, with all private-sector employees, including people who work at fast-food restaurants. An honest comparison would be, for example, federal attorneys with private-sector attorneys. Such a comparison would show that private-sector employees are paid more.
ReplyDeleteAlso, federal employees hired after 1982 receive most of their retirement through 401(k) plans, like people in the private sector.
In sum, on average public-sector employees are paid less than people doing similar work in the private sector.
Previous post from "anonymous" is completely untrue.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the 2nd anonymous. The first post to this topic said I was comparing lawyers and doctors in the public sector to the lower paid workers in the private sector. This is simply not true. Employees in the public sector still get pensions. 100% tax paid pensions. Some may get 401K's or whatever, but to say employees hired after 1982 recieve most of their retirement thru 401K is simply untrue.
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