Friday, August 28, 2009

It's Good to Work for the Government

Cato at Liberty with the details:

In 2000, the average compensation (wages and benefits) of federal workers was 66 percent higher than the average compensation in the U.S. private sector. The new data show that average federal compensation is now more than double the average in the private sector.

In 2008, the average wage for 1.9 million federal civilian workers was $79,197, which compared to an average $49,935 for the nation’s 108 million private sector workers (measured in full-time equivalents). The figure shows that the federal pay advantage (the gap between the lines) is steadily increasing.

And with much less volatility (which should make the case that government workers should be paid less).



As the chart above indicates, the gap between the two should explode when 2009 figures are released.

Source: BEA

4 comments:

  1. I thought the chart on total compensation was even more interesting.

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  2. ...or maybe it means that private sector workers need to be paid more.

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  3. looks more like government wages are more consistent than private wages. their incomes don't grow as much, but they don't tank as badly either

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  4. but government salaries are at a much higher base to begin with...

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