Federal Workers Grossly Overpaid

According to the Cato Institute (http://www.cato.org/), a conservative think tank, the 1.9 million civilian workers in the executive branch of government cost the taxpayers over $200 billion a year. Hopefully putting to rest once and for all the claim by politicians that federal workers should get greater benefits as they make less than their private-sector counterparts, the astounding results of a study commissioned by the Cato Institute revealed the following conclusions:

· The average federal worker earned $100,178 in wages and benefits while the average private-sector worker earned $51,176 in wages and benefits. In 2004, the average federal civilian employees made 93 percent more than his private-sector counterpart.

· Examining wages alone, the average federal worker made $66,558, 66 percent more than the average private sector-worker with $42,635 in earnings

· Since 1990, average compensation has increased 115 percent for federal employment as opposed to 69 percent in the private sector. Federal wages have increased 104 percent while private-sector wages have increased by 65 percent

· Increases in federal compensation have stemmed from general wage increases, increased locality pay, expansions in benefits, changes in the nature of federal work, growth in the number of high-paid jobs, and other factors

· Federal workers are secure and highly-paid while private-sector workers must compete in a dynamic often turbulent economy

· Federal studies (naturally) have concluded that government workers are underpaid while academic studies have concluded that federal workers are overpaid.

· The federal government offers benefits rarely found in the private-sector including health benefits, retirement health benefits, a pension plan with inflation protection, and a retirement plan with a very generous match. Other benefits include flexible working hours, training options, incentive awards, excessive disability benefits, and flexible spending accounts, union protections and a much more relaxed work environment rarely reflecting the stress of private employment.

One of the most significant factors is the extreme job security, which borders on insanity under civil service regulations. The rate of “involuntary separations” in the federal government is one-fourth that of the private sector. Only 1 in 5000 federal non-defense workers is fired each year for poor performance (see “Why We Need to Passionately Fight to Resist More Government Programs” below to explain why)