Thanks to Mish Shedlock for bringing this USA Today story to my attention in his blog.
According to a study done by USA Today, the number of federal employees earning in excess of 6 figures has exploded during the recession while over 7 million private sector jobs have been lost. Unbelievable.
This from the newspaper on December 11, 2009:
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.
The story also notes the average private sector salary is $40,331 while the average government salary is $71, 206. From 2007 to 2009, the number of federal workers earning more than 6 figures per year has increased 46%.
Wouldn’t you love to hear the BS explanation some politician will have for this? Keep those tea parties going.
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