The Real Pay Gap Progressives Won't Talk About: Federal Workers Make 78 Extra Cents on the Dollar Compared to Their Private Sector Analogues

Apparently "Good enough for government work" is now considered the gold standard as far as determining employee recompense.

Employees for the federal government earn far more than their counterparts in the private sector, according to a new study by the Cato Institute.

Federal workers' pay and benefits were 78 percent higher than private employees, who earned an average of $52,688 less than public sector workers last year.

The study found that federal government workers earned an average of $84,153 in 2014, compared to the private sector’s average of $56,350. Cato based its findings on figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

But when adding in benefits pay for federal workers, the difference becomes more dramatic. Federal employees made $119,934 in total compensation last year, while private sector workers earned $67,246, a difference of over $52,000, or 78 percent.

This is largely because while private sector pay rises are delayed or diminished due to economic downturns, civil servants always get their too-generous pay increases, come hell or high water.

Cato makes a good-government pitch for reducing government worker pay, too: They say reducing pay would encourage turnover, which would bring in new (and younger) people with new ideas. It would reduce government sclerosis.

Oh, I'm putting lots of stuff in the sidebar too, so feel free to use this as a Mid-Day Open Thread.

posted by Ace at 03:53 PM

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