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Furloughed Federal Employees are Still Paid More Than You


Muda69

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https://mises.org/wire/furloughed-federal-employees-are-still-paid-more-you

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Whether its CNBC, or The New York Times, or NPR, the mainstream media is clearly committed to using the current partial government shutdown to portray federal workers as beleaguered victims of the American political system.

But, in all cases I've encountered, these reports neglect to mention that on average, civilian federal workers make 17 percent more than similar workers in the private sector, according to a 2017-2018 report by the Congressional Budget Office. That's total compensation, so we're including both wages and benefits.

Considering that a year is 52 weeks long, an average federal worker would need to be completely without any income for nearly 9 weeks in order to just be reduced to equal standing with a similar private-sector worker. (17 percent of 52 weeks is 8.84 weeks.)

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Source: Congressional Budget Office.

As of this writing, the current shutdown has only lasted three weeks, which means all those furloughed workers profiled in national news stories are likely still coming out ahead of their private-sector colleagues. Moreover, given that both Trump and Congress have committed to pay furloughed workers back pay, it's a safe bet that federal workers will continue to enjoy a healthy advantage over private-sector workers when it comes to compensation.

Health benefits for most federal workers will also continue without interruption through the shutdown, as noted by NPR.

The disparity between private-sector work and federal jobs is largest at the lower end of the education scale.

According to the CBO's report:

Federal civilian workers with no more than a high school education earned 34 percent more, on average, than similar workers in the private sector.

That's just wages. They get far more in terms of benefits like healthcare and vacation time:

Average benefits were 93 percent higher for federal employees with no more than a high school education than for their private-sector counterparts.

The benefits for workers with a bachelors degree are 52 percent higher for federal workers than for their private-sector counterparts. Wages for federal workers in this group, however, are only five percent higher.

Only when we look at federal workers with PhDs and other advanced degrees, do we find some federal workers who actually make less than similar workers in the private sector. Wages among highly-educated federal employees were 24 percent less than in the private sector, according to the report. Benefits remained "about the same."

So, most federal employees — especially the ones with less education — have a long way to go before facing the economic realities that private-sector employees — i.e., the net taxpayers — face on a daily basis.

...

Yep, no tears shed for those who choose to cast their employment lot with the federal government.

As Ron Swanson believes:

parks-and-recreation-ron-swanson-governm

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SF has a general agreement with Ron Swanson and Muda.........Government shutdowns are OK with me......

I have a sister-in-law who lives in Pentagon City, and is an FBI employee (accounting) and is actually surviving this shutdown because she has been in DC for over a decade and knows how to plan.  HOWEVER - the cost of living in a place like DC is exponentially higher than what we are used to.  I suppose this would apply to most large metropolitan areas, but her small 2 bedroom condo (on the bottom floor of a 5 story complex just South of the Pentagon and about a mile from the nearest subway station) was a bargain at  $395,000.  This abode would set some one in Indiana back about $75,000 - $100,000 maybe.  She is not having any problems, as I said she can plan better than most, and of course will get back pay and family will help if needed.  She still has to get in to work every day and back home, but will survive. 

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8 hours ago, DanteEstonia said:

You basically have to be a vet to get a federal job. Leave the pay issue alone.

Hmm, I used to a civilian employee of the department of defense, and therefore the federal government,  and I was not a veteran.

So you agree that federal employees should always get paid more than their public counterparts? Why?

 

 

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54 minutes ago, swordfish said:

SF really wishes DE would explain this statement.......I know several federal employees who are neither veterans nor veterinarians......

My assumption is that he is referring to veteran's preference when applying for government jobs (at least within the DoD).

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Pay for Federal Government Workers: https://www.cato.org/blog/pay-federal-government-workers

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With the backdrop of the shutdown and federal workers going unpaid, the New York Times published a backgrounder last week on federal compensation. It was a fair and balanced piece and highlighted themes discussed in this study on government workers.

The NYT charts government and private sector wage growth. Average federal wages soared during the 1990s and 2000s but have grown more slowly this decade. However, overall federal compensation including benefits has grown briskly in recent years, as I chart below.

Here are highlights from the NYT story:

Verla Bloomfield has the kind of workplace that seems plucked from a different era. She has a pension, a union, several weeks of vacation and a paycheck that has nearly doubled in 14 years. Her employer? The United States government.

Since 2000, average pay has grown twice as fast for federal employees as it has in the private sector. That’s partly because the federal work force has become more educated and specialized. It is also built into the job. Even without the salaries that top performers can command in the corporate world, government workers who do well are entitled by law to regular pay increases, an increasingly rare guarantee elsewhere.

… As globalization has shuttered factories and decimated entire industries, federal employment has been a bastion of stability.

… But the reality is that people who have held onto their government jobs for many years have not languished in the same role at the same pay grade. They have progressed up the ladder and benefited from regular raises at least every few years. They all have pensions and almost all have health insurance, perks that are harder to come by as an employee in corporate America.

… [Federal worker] Ms. Bloomfield would take stability over a six-figure salary in the private sector any day. Her brother earns much more than she does in technical support in Austin, Tex. But he’s had to switch employers multiple times in the last 20 years because of corporate restructuring and layoffs. “Even though he makes a high wage, he has to live with this uncertainty,” she said. “We don’t have that stress.”

Steve Fosse, a revenue agent with the I.R.S., isn’t sure whether that trade-off is worth it anymore. The first person in his family to graduate from college, Mr. Fosse, 39, took a job with the government because it offered reliability. “I wanted the benefits and the guaranteed paychecks,” he said. For the most part, that dream panned out. Mr. Fosse earns $90,000 a year…

The NYT uses data from the Bureau of Economic (BEA) for its pay comparisons. Federal worker wages averaged $90,794 in 2017, which was 48 percent higher than the private sector average of $61,311. But as the NYT article indicates, gold-plated benefits are a key advantage that federal workers enjoy over private-sector workers.

The chart below shows BEA data on total compensation, wages plus benefits. Compensation averaged $130,429 for federal workers in 2017, which was 79 percent higher than the private-sector average of $72,992.

The comments by Bloomfield and Fosse in the article illustrate another point. As I discuss here, high job security is an additional government benefit that should be considered when comparing federal to private compensation levels.  

The shutdown has disrupted the lives of federal workers, but generally they have a good thing going with pay, benefits, and job security. If Congress ever gets around to tackling bloat in the federal budget, excessive federal benefits would be a good place to find savings.

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https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/nexwag/cannabis-company-giving-government-workers-free-weed-shutdown-medical-marijuana-budtrader-vgtrn

FTA:

The government shutdown may be entering its second month with no clear end in sight, but one noble cannabis website has decided to lend a hand to some of the 800,000 furloughed federal workers who aren't getting paid—by offering them free medical weed for as long as the shutdown lasts.

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