Heard this today on the morning drive. Had me scratching my head saying hmmmm.
According to the U.S. government, compensation for the average federal civilian worker in 2005 stood at over $106,000. That's double the average for private workers. That's top 5 percent of the personal income distribution. And average wages for a federal worker rose 5.8 percent that year, compared to a 3.3 wage hike in the private sector.
But who knows? Maybe all these new federal office buildings really are hives of extraordinary productivity. In San Jose, they make software, in Detroit, they make cars, and here in D.C., we make memos about meetings about regulations -- very efficiently. Maybe we Washingtonians deserve our good fortune.
Alas, according to a recent Pew Research poll, the federal government's favorability rating has plummeted to a 10-year low. If taxpayers are getting what we're paying for, we don't seem to know it.
But, hey, you just wait until the next guy gets into the White House. He's really gonna clean this place up.
Will Wilkinson is a research fellow at the Cato Institute.
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2 comments:
Speaking of a retired Fed: Grrrrrr......I hope your readers who use your link will also read the many clarifying abd qualifying comments, including one from the author himself (who, by the way, as a member of the CATO Institute is by definition against most government interventions and wants to reduce its size and influence. So he is grinding an ax here).
There is an argument to be made that the federal government needs to attract the best and the brightest, especially now, to compensate for the dullards and/or ideologues that have been populating it for the past 8 years. Unfortuantely, FDR or Kennedy-style idealism alone no longer cuts it. Speaking personally, I worked hard and so did my colleagues. WE placed a premium on client service, whever that "client" was. There's dead wood everywhere, the governmnet has no corner on that market. (Dealt with Comcast or any of the Baby Bells lately?) Fed-bashing is always in style and I stand up for us whenever I get the chance. Thanks for this one, but I regret it was made necessary.
Of course you are right and author was a lib...n.
There are, of course, many government people that are great.
I guess my biggest shock was the AVERAGE salary, and it's even more now.
I don't think Al Gore fixed much when he tried to businessitize the gov.
And I too do go freak'n crazy at the treatment I receive at the hands of many "service-providers" at for-profit enterprises.
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