Job and Income Growth
This is an interesting insight on job and income growth in our country. Note, too, that it is not all the fault of the current administration:
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.
Yeah, it’s all the fault of Wall Street’s greed.
Wall Street cost us trillions. This amounts to tens of millions. Try to stay focused.
I don’t see any analysis of the work done or the qualifications of the people – the salaries don’t strike me as out-of-line. The $170,000 line sounds arbitrary.
Private sector employment is down, and the pressure on wages due to outsourcing and illegal immigration is severe. But executive salaries have skyrocketed.
All in all, kind of a knee-jerk piece.
So am I right in assuming that Mark T and Ladybug are rationalizing this increase during a time when everyone else is struggling?
What happened to that old criticism of Bush and the Republican Congress ” don’t share our pain”.
I thought Government was supposed to emphathize with the regular folks?
You both missed the obvious. These pay increases would have had to be initiated under Bush. Can’t blame him now though, you missed your chance by jumping to the defensive position.
If you really want to see a huge number of six figure government employees try driving 89 miles south of Great Falls. Anyone want to take a guess on how many State of Montana employees make more than $100,000 per year plus benefits? Just look at one department – transportation. Want to take a guess? It will blow your mind……………
“Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time – in pay and hiring”
A lot of hiring can be attributed to the wholesale retirement of baby boomers. A lot of Federal jobs are going begging and in the case of many of them they dont pay anywhere near what the same job pays in the private sector.
Ah to be a Central Committee Member and have a dacha!
Certainly the government didn’t just lay off a bunch of their lower paid workers (like teachers). That couldn’t have anything to do with the increased percentage of higher-paid government workers. I’m sure you could provide evidence that there’s actually an increased number of higher paid government workers.
Good luck on that one, Gregg.
Does the federal government employ teachers, Steve? Does the article say
The unemployment rate for government workers is about 3% if memory serves. But I’m sure that I if was inclined I could come up with those numbers. But since I’m not, Steve, why don’t you prove Gregg wrong. You can get everything at http://www.bls.gov.
I think you’ll find that your assumptions are very wrong.
Steve T:
“Certainly the government didn’t just lay off a bunch of their lower paid workers (like teachers). That couldn’t have anything to do with the increased percentage of higher-paid government workers.”
It has NOTHING to do with the increase in percentage. The analysis looked at existing and new hires. The percentages include new hires. You will not find a large layoff of lower grade federal employees.
The transportation dept. was one of the highest. Because the salary limitations created by a cap on the top agency person was lifted. Thus allowing lower grade employees to get raises that exceed the old cap ($170,000). Which many did get.
And as I said above, many of the personell actions allowing these increases were started under Bush and simply implemented under Obama.
Steve T:
Just to clarify, here are some numbers from the report.
“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.”
You see, these are increases in total numbers, not just percentages.
Defense spending is bloated beyond all reason, given that we have 700 bases all over the world, and maybe two enemies, none that can really threaten us. And industry hacks circulate in and out, officers above a certain rank know that if they play their cards right, an industry job awaits or perhaps …. CNN.
But at the $170,000 level you are probably just dealing with people who excelled in their jobs and got promoted.
Okay, I’ll forget the hedge fund managers, brokers and bankers for a minute to play along.
These high level bureaucrats are probably happy to be finally closing the pay gap between their salaries and those of “outsourced” private contractors doing the same job for bigger bucks. That doesn’t necessarily mean I’m happy for them. If you think minimum wage hikes push all wages up from the bottom, consider the overall effect of adding contractors to the federal employment mix. It seems logical there would be a natural tendency toward “pulling” salaried federal employee wages higher until some sort of work-for-pay equity is achieved. How’s it working in Afghanistan and Iraq? More higher-paid contractors and more higher-paid troops. How “efficient.”
For those of you who think me and my Dad are indistinguishable, well maybe we are… that last post under my name was him. That always happens when I come to visit.
Anyways, as a counselor/teacher employed by the Federal Government, I should have known better. My job is actually pretty safe… though I’m not making 6 figures. I didn’t read the post well enough and thought it was referring to all government employees.
Not that I still don’t think your stat is bunk, and doesn’t prove anything.
Steve T., as the saying goes, “Close enough for government work.”
Some of you have missed the point. The State of Montana (NOT FEDERAL) has many hundreds of employees receiving six figure salaries plus benefits. Those pay raises have occured recently under the Schweitzer administration. Those raises have nothing to do with Bush or Obama……. While it is okay to look at the feds how about looking a lot closer to home like Helena where there are 294 state employees in just one division (transportation) making over $100,000 a year plus benefits. Now does it sound reasonable there would be 294 State of Montana Departrment of Transportation employees making over a hundred thousand dollars a year? And that is just ONE department out of state government.
When you consider federal salaries, remember that those figures don’t include fringe benefits, which tend to be significantly better than for comparable jobs either in state/local government or in the private sector.
OK Mr N – I know everyone else is just fakin’ it, and you’re the real deal. Put up some number. What are yoa making? Include benefits! I knw what you think of you, but let the rest of us judge you like you judge other.
???? How about retirement, health insurance, COLA housing allowances, per diem rates, and those are just the one’s off the top of my head.
Comment as first written:
Comment written following mening, after beer has worn off, while sober:
Now, you can all judge: Do you prefer me beery, sober, or somewhere else?
“mening” =”Morning” – honest! I don’t crack my first beer until 1PM, EST.