First off Obamas approval rating is up to 46% and a disapproval rating of 53%. These are some of the new poles out that I find very interesting since the Democrats are hell bent on making government larger and more intrusive then ever. Here we go: 1)Are government workers paid too much,too little,or is their pay just right? 51% too much 10% too little 27% about right 12% not sure 2)Who works harder,government workers or workers in the private sector? 7% Government workers 71% Private sector workers 22% Not sure 3) Does the average government worker earn more annually than the average taxpayer? 59% Yes 15%No 26% Not sure So what des this tell us? It tells me that we have over paid underworked governemnt employees and the governemnt want to have more of them. My question to government employees like Bruce and others is: Why do you think the goverment workers deserve to be paid so much more then non government employees? And why do you think you should do less for all that extra money you make?
And here's another thing for Bruce and the rest of the Hypocrat learning-disabled. You idiotards keep yapping about how efficient government is, but why is it that government continually gets LARGER, without fail and without break? If it was soooo efficient then they would be learning how to do more with less, but that is just not the way the FACTS bear out. So you are expecting a government-controlled health care system to be run more efficiently and have costs under control?!!? Makes no sense, but then again that's par for the course for Hypocrats and lieberals.
ReplyDeleteChris, those are stupid questions you are asking. That poll only evaluates peoples' perception, not facts.
ReplyDeleteJust because the perception is that government workers don't deserve to be paid as much as they are and the perception is that they don't work as hard as private sector employees, does not mean it's true.
When you have some objective criteria to measure pay and performance between government and private sector employees, then we can talk.
Until then this is a totally useless post.
No they are not stupid questions. You and other union members can't and wont answer them. Governemnt employees do make much more then the same people doing the same job in the private sector thanks to SEIU. Now answer the question Bruce.
ReplyDeleteFor feds, more get 6-figure salaries
ReplyDeleteAverage pay $30,000 over private sector
By Dennis Cauchon
USA TODAY
The number of federal workers earning six-figure salaries has exploded during the recession, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal salary data.
Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession's first 18 months — and that's before overtime pay and bonuses are counted.
Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time — in pay and hiring — during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.
The highest-paid federal employees are doing best of all on salary increases. Defense Department civilian employees earning $150,000 or more increased from 1,868 in December 2007 to 10,100 in June 2009, the most recent figure available.
When the recession started, the Transportation Department had only one person earning a salary of $170,000 or more. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees had salaries above $170,000.
The trend to six-figure salaries is occurring throughout the federal government, in agencies big and small, high-tech and low-tech. The primary cause: substantial pay raises and new salary rules.
"There's no way to justify this to the American people. It's ridiculous," says Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, a first-term lawmaker who is on the House's federal workforce subcommittee.
Jessica Klement, government affairs director for the Federal Managers Association, says the federal workforce is highly paid because the government employs skilled people such as scientists, physicians and lawyers. She says federal employees make 26% less than private workers for comparable jobs.
USA TODAY analyzed the Office of Personnel Management's database that tracks salaries of more than 2 million federal workers. Excluded from OPM's data: the White House, Congress, the Postal Service, intelligence agencies and uniformed military personnel.
The growth in six-figure salaries has pushed the average federal worker's pay to $71,206, compared with $40,331 in the private sector.
Key reasons for the boom in six-figure salaries:
•Pay hikes. Then-president Bush recommended — and Congress approved — across-the-board raises of 3% in January 2008 and 3.9% in January 2009. President Obama has recommended 2% pay raises in January 2010, the smallest since 1975. Most federal workers also get longevity pay hikes — called steps — that average 1.5% per year.
•New pay system. Congress created a new National Security Personnel System for the Defense Department to reward merit, in addition to the across-the-board increases. The merit raises, which started in January 2008, were larger than expected and rewarded high-ranking employees. In October, Congress voted to end the new pay scale by 2012.
•Pay caps eased. Many top civil servants are prohibited from making more than an agency's leader. But if Congress lifts the boss' salary, others get raises, too. When the Federal Aviation Administration chief's salary rose, nearly 1,700 employees' had their salaries lifted above $170,000, too.
Federal Pay Continues Rapid Ascent
ReplyDeletePosted by Chris Edwards
The Bureau of Economic Analysis has released its annual data on compensation levels by industry (Tables 6.2D, 6.3D, and 6.6D here). The data show that the pay advantage enjoyed by federal civilian workers over private-sector workers continues to expand.
The George W. Bush years were very lucrative for federal workers. 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.
Figure 1 looks at average wages. In 2008, the average wage for 1.9 million federal civilian workers was $79,197, which compared to an average $50,028 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.
Figure 2 shows that the federal advantage is even more pronounced when worker benefits are included. In 2008, federal worker compensation averaged a remarkable $119,982, which was more than double the private sector average of $59,909.
What is going on here? Members of Congress who have large numbers of federal workers in their districts relentlessly push for expanding federal worker compensation. Also, the Bush administration had little interest in fiscal restraint, and it usually got rolled by the federal unions. The result has been an increasingly overpaid elite of government workers, who are insulated from the economic reality of recessions and from the tough competitive climate of the private sector.
It’s time to put a stop to this. Federal wages should be frozen for a period of years, at least until the private-sector economy has recovered and average workers start seeing some wage gains of their own. At the same time, gold-plated federal benefit packages should be scaled back as unaffordable given today’s massive budget deficits. There are many qualitative benefits of government work—such as extremely high job security—so taxpayers should not have to pay for such lavish government pay packages.
Update: I respond to some criticisms of this post here.
Update 2: Compensation data for federal workers vs. other industries here.
Update 3: In September, the government revised the data for private sector workers. On 9/30/09, Figure 1 and the related text were updated to reflect this change.
Chris Edwards • August 24, 2009 @ 11:57 am
City Employee Pay Is Outpacing Private Sector,
ReplyDeleteBuzzPermalinkBy DAVID CHEN
Published: January 8, 2009
Bolstered in part by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s spending, the average New York City employee cost the city $107,000 a year in wages, health insurance, pension and other benefits in the 2008 fiscal year, an increase of 63 percent since 2000, according to a new report.
City worker compensation grew twice as fast as that of employees in the private sector and elsewhere in the public sector during the same period, the Citizens Budget Commission said in the report, which was released on Thursday. The increase was driven by contractual raises that outpaced the inflation rate, and by the rising cost of health insurance and pension benefits, said the commission, a business-backed research group.
The group said those benefits have remained “exceptionally generous” under Mr. Bloomberg.
And with the city staring at a projected $7 billion deficit by 2011, fiscal watchdogs are intensifying their calls for the Bloomberg administration to act more aggressively to control employee costs.
“These skyrocketing costs are stunning,” said Carol Kellermann, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, “and they impose an enormous, and growing, burden on increasingly strained taxpayers. Corrective action is essential and can no longer be delayed.”
Mr. Bloomberg has long defended giving healthy raises to the city’s workforce of 281,000 to attract the best people and make city jobs competitive with those in the suburbs. Some critics contend that recent contracts he has negotiated with teachers and police officers, among others, are too generous, and have been driven by Mr. Bloomberg’s political aims as he seeks warm relations with powerful unions.
Critics also say that Mr. Bloomberg has not been forceful enough addressing soaring health and pension benefit costs. Those costs have jumped by 182 percent since 2000, according to the Citizens Budget Commission, in contrast to a 52 percent increase for other state and local governments, and a 40 percent increase for private industry.
Part of the reason that health benefits have jumped so much, the report said, is the city’s longstanding practice, unchanged by Mr. Bloomberg, to pay 100 percent of health insurance premiums for employees and their families, as well as for retirees and their spouses. The report noted that “Most other employers require their workers to pay some share of the premium.”
Other factors are beyond the mayor’s control, according to the report, such as actuarial recalculations and lower investment returns, as evidenced recently by the impact of the recession.
Still, Charles M. Brecher, the commission’s research director, said: “His record is mixed. On the pay side, he started out doing a terrific job, based on productivity, but his performance has slipped. On fringe benefits I don’t think he’s been aggressive enough to tackle the problems.”
Mr. Bloomberg has had some success, however, battling the Legislature’s seemingly endless desire to sweeten pension benefits. Last month, Mr. Bloomberg developed the local component of an ambitious plan unveiled by Gov. David A. Paterson seeking to reduce benefits for newly hired state and local workers by creating a new pension category, which would require employees to work longer and retire later to receive pension benefits, a move long opposed by the unions.
Part 2)Indeed, the Citizens Budget Commission praises that proposal, and urges the State Legislature to pass it. “I think the report is very clear,” said Marc LaVorgna, a Bloomberg spokesman. “It lays the blame at the foot of pension costs. Costs for employees are always going to go up. That’s not irregular. But we have been extraordinarily burdened by a pension system that we have no control over.”
ReplyDeleteThe report recommends that the city do more to restructure health insurance costs by negotiating with the Municipal Labor Committee. The administration hopes to save $200 million; the commission says “larger savings should be pursued on a more urgent basis.”
Asked about spiraling health care costs, Mr. LaVorgna said: “Rapidly rising costs are not unique to New York City government. That’s a national problem and there’s really not a local solution to what’s a national health care problem.”
Over all, the report found that city employee pay rose to an average of $69,000 annually as of last June 30, up from $52,000 in 2000, an annual increase of 3.6 percent, while inflation rose an average of 3.2 percent during the same period. Average benefits now cost almost $38,000 a year, up from $13,000 a year.
Thanks to overtime and other supplemental payments, firefighters have an average annual compensation package totaling $186,000, the highest among city employees. Department of Education employees cost the city almost $99,000 annually.
Here are the facts Brucie. Is USA Today too conservative a source for you dipshit? Now you can feel free to "talk" with Chris and answer his questions:
ReplyDeletePUBLIC GAIN, PRIVATE PAIN By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-12-10-federal-pay-salaries_N.htm
The number of federal workers earning six-figure salaries has exploded during the recession, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal salary data.
Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession's first 18 months — and that's before overtime pay and bonuses are counted.
Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time — in pay and hiring — during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.
The highest-paid federal employees are doing best of all on salary increases. Defense Department civilian employees earning $150,000 or more increased from 1,868 in December 2007 to 10,100 in June 2009, the most recent figure available.
When the recession started, the Transportation Department had only one person earning a salary of $170,000 or more. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees had salaries above $170,000.
The trend to six-figure salaries is occurring throughout the federal government, in agencies big and small, high-tech and low-tech. The primary cause: substantial pay raises and new salary rules.
"There's no way to justify this to the American people. It's ridiculous," says Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, a first-term lawmaker who is on the House's federal workforce subcommittee.
Jessica Klement, government affairs director for the Federal Managers Association, says the federal workforce is highly paid because the government employs skilled people such as scientists, physicians and lawyers. She says federal employees make 26% less than private workers for comparable jobs.
USA TODAY analyzed the Office of Personnel Management's database that tracks salaries of more than 2 million federal workers. Excluded from OPM's data: the White House, Congress, the Postal Service, intelligence agencies and uniformed military personnel.
****** The growth in six-figure salaries has pushed the average federal worker's pay to $71,206, compared with $40,331 in the private sector. ********
Key reasons for the boom in six-figure salaries:
• Pay hikes. Then-president Bush recommended — and Congress approved — across-the-board raises of 3% in January 2008 and 3.9% in January 2009. President Obama has recommended 2% pay raises in January 2010, the smallest since 1975. Most federal workers also get longevity pay hikes — called steps — that average 1.5% per year.
•New pay system. Congress created a new National Security Pay Scale for the Defense Department to reward merit, in addition to the across-the-board increases. The merit raises, which started in January 2008, were larger than expected and rewarded high-ranking employees. In October, Congress voted to end the new pay scale by 2012.
• Paycaps eased. Many top civil servants are prohibited from making more than an agency's leader. But if Congress lifts the boss' salary, others get raises, too. When the Federal Aviation Administration chief's salary rose, nearly 1,700 employees' had their salaries lifted above $170,000, too.
Is that good enough for you Bruce? Or do you want to keep playing stupid on the huge pay difference for govt employees and the private sector?
ReplyDeleteYep. Just like that stupid BITCH Jennifer Granholm trying to use children's education to blackmail us into raising taxes, when teachers are getting RAISES and the rest of us in the PRIVATE sector are taking pay cuts. I laughed my ass off when the Republicans called her bluff on that one, and said "thank you Jenny, we would have had to make those cuts next year anyway, and now it is all YOUR fault".
ReplyDeleteYou a-hole Hypocrat lieberals won't rest until you have every last penny from our pockets. Just so you can spend it on less-efficient more wasteful bumbling shitty government. What more could be expected from the brain trust that holds Social Security and Medicare up as examples of GOOD GOVERNMENT and stewardship of our tax dollars?!!?!? What a bizzaro world the Hypocrats and Lieberals live in!!
Bruce Just look at OUR State and see what LIBERAL Government has brought this State to the BRINK of,BANKRUPTSY! Libs have reached the POINT there is NO WHERE to Raise Taxes, Businesses are FLEEING OUR State.
ReplyDeleteCity of Detroit under Lib Control for Decades is around 25% Unemployment with NOTHING,NOTHING,as far as New Bussiness coming to TOWN!
This could be the FUTURE of this Great Nation if Left in the HANDS of the LEFT! Michigan and Detriot are Prime Examples WHO and What do you TAX when theres Nothing LEFT? Whats the Answer Bruce and it AINT GOVERNMENT JOBS,ask the Post Office.
Chris, this makes sense to me:
ReplyDelete"Jessica Klement, government affairs director for the Federal Managers Association, says the federal workforce is highly paid because the government employs skilled people such as scientists, physicians and lawyers. She says federal employees make 26% less than private workers for comparable jobs."
What it looks to me like is happening, from what I can see, is you're comparing apples and oranges. The USA Today articles seem to be looking at average salaries for federal workers vs. private enterprise, and not looking at same or similar jobs in the private vs. public sector. It looks like the numbers are being manipulated to give the answer that the author wanted.
Why don't you take a look at the ridiculous salaries being paid on Wall Street for the people that really ruined this country by basically opening a gambling casino with our money? That's where your criticism would be more appropriately focused.
Bruce Thank Goddness we had Chris Dodd and Barny Franks to look after Fanny Mae and Freddy Max or those LOANS could have been a REAL Problem! Wall Street did Their part Bruce BUT so DID the Elite 535 in Washington and thats where the FIX in this Economy will take Place in 2010, UNLESS Nation goes Chapter 13 before then!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Throwing the Dice,How much has This Administration BET and JUST like Casinos,Where did it GO?
Private Sector will bring BACK Economy if GOVERNMENT gets OUT of its WAY but you DO HATE the word PROFIT,makes me wonder what GOVERNMENT JOB you have?
Al, I don't hate the word profit. But when you look, for example, at the health insurance industry, they don't produce anything. All they are is middlemen that pay the bills and negotiate rates with the health care providers.
ReplyDeleteAnd they take a 20-40% cut for their trouble. I'd rather have a single-payer, the government where the overhead is 2% and the rest of our dollars actually go to providing care for people who need it.
Bruce it was your STUPID HYPOCRATIC CONGRESS that bailed out the banks, you SH!THEAD. God, you are SO stupid.
ReplyDeleteAnd you think USA TODAY AUTHOR IS BEING SLANTED AGAINST THE HYPOCRATS AND BIG GIVERNMENT?!?!! WTF!?!!?
Well big guy, where is your study showing an "apples to apples" comparison?!?! Until you've got something, you're going to have to use the numbers you are given. And here's something for your "apples to apples" comparison, jerk:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2009-04-09-compensation_N.htm
Some states are asking unions for help with budget problems. New Mexico employees will pay an extra 1.5% of salary toward pensions for two years, cutting the state's share. Ohio's unions will take unpaid furlough days to save the state $440 million over two years. In the third year, workers will get most of the money back.
The wage gap between government and private workers has stayed roughly the same since 2002. Benefits are a different story.
For every $1-an-hour pay increase, public employees have gotten $1.17 in new benefits. Private workers have gotten just 58 cents in benefits for every $1 raise. The difference: Companies have ended most traditional pension plans and increased workers' share of health care costs. Government paid an average of $8,800 annually toward employee medical insurance. Private companies paid $4,100.
A full-time government worker receives benefits worth an average of $27,830 per year. A private worker's benefits are worth $16,598.
Bruce, this "And they take a 20-40% cut for their trouble" is a total LIE. Insurance companies make 3.5%, places them I believe 82nd in profit, WAY down there. And your other number regarding overhead is BS as well. Where do you come up with this Bullshit?!?! Stop making this stuff up BRUCE, you Hypocrat LIAR.
ReplyDeleteAnd your precious Medicare is failing, and is the leading claims rejector. But don't let the FACTS get in the way of your big-assed LIES.
Al - A recent study shows that 95.8% of Hypocrats (lieberals) have experimented with homosexuality. This would, in theory, include Bruce Failk.
ReplyDeleteAlso a study I heard about said that you were 40 X'S as likely to die under the care of Medicare than private insurance.
ReplyDeleteBruce is the final decider about if a business provides any kind of service or not. Bruce I guess we should get rid of auto insurance as well? Those fat cat F**KERS are making money too!! WTF?!!?
ReplyDeleteYou are way out there in la la land Bruce. Do you even think about what you say any more? Do you do any research, or ... JESUS, DO YOU THINK?!?!!? WTF?!?! I am scared that society has allowed you to reproduce Bruce, I really am.
Holy SHIT AL, did you realize that grocery stores make actual MONEY selling us food when we could get it right from the FARMERS!! And this is LIFE-SUSTAINING FOOD! Can you believe they are making money off of keeping us alive!!!! Time to socialize the grocery stores!!!
Bruce found one study that backs his idealogue writen by a nobody. She probably believes in astrology too. lol Bruce why do you Democrats want to take away breast cancer mamogrames for women age 40-49? C-SPAN just had Mike Buchard from MI said that that refom bill would kill 39,000 women. Talk about "dieing in the streets". Remember when you said it as a lie Bruce? Now you can say it and it wont be a lie. Try it for a change Bruce.
ReplyDeleteBruce You cant Really beleive that Medicare/Medicade makes PROFIT of 2% Its Trillions in the HOLE! No Profit BUT a Whole Lot of Fraud and Mismanagement! If Medicare was Private Sector Business it would be OUT of Business and CEOs Charged,Stoned and Quartered before the Trial!
ReplyDeletePrivate Sector Insurance, Bruce you say "All they do is Pay Bills and Negotiate Rates"! Bruce thats WHY YOU pay them Premiums.
John No matter what you say Bruce aint getting it and Gotta believe he is a Government Employee or Private Sector has not been good to him!