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PrintSeptember 15, 2009
Government workers: From public servants to masters
Liberals love to denounce income disparities, but seem very comfortable with the rising gap between the wages of government workers and the rest of us.
In 2000, the average compensation (wages and benefits) of federal workers was 66% 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. . . . 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" -- the Cato Institute's Chris Edwards, commenting on a new report on federal employee pay levels by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Chris Edwards of Cato provides the information in graphs.
Pretty dramatic. But wait! There's more. Don't forget those lavish benefits.
Government workers are transforming from public servants into our masters.
