ECON Federal Pay Ahead of Private Industry

[rhughe13]

Those of us that have worked in the private IT industry have been waiting for such news. It's what makes our government such a democracy. If you can't compete with private industry, just outsource their jobs to third world wages.

I wonder how it can be called Private Sector, when government controls the influx of low wage jobs into that sector?



http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...eral-pay_N.htm

Federal employees earn higher average salaries than private-sector workers in more than eight out of 10 occupations, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data finds.

Accountants, nurses, chemists, surveyors, cooks, clerks and janitors are among the wide range of jobs that get paid more on average in the federal government than in the private sector.

Overall, federal workers earned an average salary of $67,691 in 2008 for occupations that exist both in government and the private sector, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The average pay for the same mix of jobs in the private sector was $60,046 in 2008, the most recent data available.


CHART: Federal salaries compared to private-sector

These salary figures do not include the value of health, pension and other benefits, which averaged $40,785 per federal employee in 2008 vs. $9,882 per private worker, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Federal pay has become a hot political issue in recent months because of concerns over the federal budget deficit and recession-battered wages in the private sector.

Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., made federal pay an issue in his successful campaign to fill Edward Kennedy's seat and is fighting for a pay freeze.
The federal government spends about $125 billion annually on compensation for about 2 million civilian employees.
"The data flip the conventional wisdom on its head," says Cato Institute budget analyst Chris Edwards, a critic of federal pay policy. "Federal workers make substantially more than private workers, not less, in addition to having a large advantage in benefits."

But National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley says the comparison is faulty because it "compares apples and oranges." Federal accountants, for example, perform work that has more complexity and requires more skill than accounting work in the private sector, she says.
"When you look at the actual duties, you see that very few federal jobs align with those in the private sector," she says. She says federal employees are paid an average of 26% less than non-federal workers doing comparable work.

Office of Personnel Management spokeswoman Sedelta Verble, says higher pay also reflects the longevity and older age of federal workers.
USA TODAY used Bureau of Labor Statistics data to compare salaries in every federal job that had a private-sector equivalent. For example, the federal government's 57,000 registered nurses — working for the Veterans Administration and elsewhere — were paid an average of $74,460 a year, $10,680 more than the average for private-sector nurses.
The BLS reports that 216 occupations covering 1.1 million federal workers exist in both the federal government and the private sector. An additional 124 federal occupations covering 750,000 employees — air-traffic controllers, tax collectors and others — did not have direct equivalents, according to the BLS.

Federal jobs have more limited salary ranges than private-sector jobs, some of which have million-dollar payouts.
Key findings:

• Federal. The federal pay premium cut across all job categories — white-collar, blue-collar, management, professional, technical and low-skill. In all, 180 jobs paid better average salaries in the federal government; 36 paid better in the private sector.

•Private. The private sector paid more on average in a select group of high-skill occupations, including lawyers, veterinarians and airline pilots. The government's 5,200 computer research scientists made an average of $95,190, about $10,000 less than the average in the corporate world.

•State and local. State government employees had an average salary of $47,231 in 2008, about 5% less than comparable jobs in the private sector. City and county workers earned an average of $43,589, about 2% more than private workers in similar jobs. State and local workers have higher total compensation than private workers when the value of benefits is included.

Job comparison
Average federal salaries exceed average private-sector pay in 83% of comparable occupations. A sampling of average annnual salaries in 2008, the most recent data:

[UncurledA]

The value of any job, public or private, always eventually reverts to the value in wealth ( things of usefulness ) that specific job directly provides. That is what is coming. Top-loading at all levels is ending, and it appears soon, as now even Ben Bernanke is saying it is upon us, "not 10 years away".

The $10 Million salary "deal maker", the "corporate director of blah-blah" and his staff, the "usage analyst for farm subsidy programs", etc., are all going to become very, very redundant. The question they are soon going to be asked is, "do you know how to use a set of palm buttons ?"

[Troke]

"... For example, the federal government's 57,000 registered nurses — working for the Veterans Administration and elsewhere — were paid an average of $74,460 a year, $10,680 more than the average for private-sector nurses..."

And yet everywhere I go, there is supposedly a shortage of nurses. All got sopped by the fat pay and "bennies" of the VA leaving a shortage in the private sector? Why do I doubt that?

Something going on here I don't understand. Pay too low in the private sector to attract people to the profession?

[Thomas Paine]

I don't know about most other markets but but my pay for a cop is nowhere near the top of the hill for cops in my area. In fact in most metro areas most 083 series (fed gov uniform police) are underpaid compared the local market.

[rhughe13]

Originally Posted by Troke

"... For example, the federal government's 57,000 registered nurses — working for the Veterans Administration and elsewhere — were paid an average of $74,460 a year, $10,680 more than the average for private-sector nurses..."

And yet everywhere I go, there is supposedly a shortage of nurses. All got sopped by the fat pay and "bennies" of the VA leaving a shortage in the private sector? Why do I doubt that?

Something going on here I don't understand. Pay too low in the private sector to attract people to the profession?

There has been a shortage of IT workers over past decade too. That's why we are all unemployed or feel it's useless to compete with Indians for $12/hour.

[ainitfunny]

Why not force government to do what private industry does?

LOWER the wage and benefits of the government jobs, but not the qualifications or duties, until when you advertise for an opening there are too few qualified people who apply!! THAT is how you let the free market work to assist taxpayers and know the TRUE value of the job.

As long as you get over a hundred, EVEN THOUSANDS of QUALIFIED people who apply for one government job opening then you are paying WAY TOO MANY TAX DOLLARS for what could be satisfactorily done cheaper.

I also feel that EXCESSIVE educational and experience requirements are put on most federal and state jobs SIMPLY TO CULL THE OVERWHELMING APPLICATION RESPONSE to job openings generated because of the excessive pay and benefits any such civil service job offers. I think (UNNECESSARY to the job) college degrees are required by human resource managers only as a simple weapon to reject most of the applicants for many jobs that REALLY do not actually require such an education to do the job quite admirably.