Re: average salary

I wonder what the numbers would look like if you took out air traffic controllers (who have no private sector equivalent), law enforcement (w/mandatory retirement), etc.

I'm really curious about the so called "compensation". 100,178 minus 66558 means that there are 33,620 dollars of "fringe benefits" in there somewhere. Am I missing something? My pay is about 54K, so adjusting the numbers I should be getting about 16-17K in benefits. Now just where are they? I'd like to know.

The fact (as stated by the report) that 40 percent of companies don't even have retirement plans...that's a problem with the new Corporate America...not Federal Government.

Re: Elite Island?

Change is the hardest thing for anybody to deal with, especially employees who have been around the longest. The implication that everybody should be hired at low levels and slowly rise through the ranks to their target grade(GS12 in this case) is not logical in a world where people can easily find outside employment paying much more money. Your organization will be left with the least desireable employees if they choose to slow down individual pay raises based soley on time-in-service. I imagine it can be quite embarrassing for a senior person to see a "new" person come in at a similar pay grade, have knowledge in the field of work, and loads more ambition. Just as you can't assume somebody with 20+ years service has substantial knowledge/experience, you also can't assume that the "new" person brings less to the table than you. I have seen people with 20+ years in my career field who know very little about their job. I am the "new" guy they call whenever they have questions.

Re: Elite Island?

Antiterrorism expert - are you implying that only younger employees are equipped with ambition? At what age are you going to lose yours if ambition is reserved for only "new" employees.

Re: Elite Island?

And I am the old gal (33 yrs of service) who gets all the work because they don't want to give it to the new guys to screw up. The new guys can meanwhile surf the net and get 1 to every 6-7 cases I get. Fair? Elite? not even close.

Re: Statistics

That was Mark Twain.

Re: Pay

What makes you think people of any particular political persuasion can't hold a real job? Your bias is showing. I am a libertarian, and working for 35 years within the goverment to witness its dysfunction first hand has made me so. Whether my job is a real job is a matter of opinion, I suppose, since I am one of the overpaid elite.

Re: Pay

Let's see - per Encarta
Libertarian - 1. Advocate of individual responsibility
2. Advocate of individual freedom

Sounds good to me. My question is, why would you use it as an obviously derogatory adjective?! Regardless, I certainly would not ascribe that adjective to the writer of the obviously slanted "statistical" study. Anytime these so called studies come out on averages, you know its wildly inaccurate. There's plenty of problems in the pay systems in govt but there's plenty of the same in the private sector. CEO salaries for one. Funny how the study skipped that part altogether, eh?!

Re: CATO Comparison of private & federal average pay

Exactly! Compare apples to apples, then let's discuss being over-paid.

Re: CATO Comparison of private & federal average pay

The Cato Institute has an obvious anti-federal worker bias. They preach the simple gospel that contractor workers are good...government workers are bad!! Also called propoganda, to serve the business community and not so much the tax payer and worker!!