Federal Government Pay/Waste - interesting website

U.S. Federal Government Employee Lookup

On this website you can look up various federal agencies and see what people make.

For instance, the "Wage and Hour" Division. Almost 1800 employees, many making over $100K per year.

Wage and Hour Division Salary Statistics

You can see all the worthless government organizations that we fund on a yearly basis.

If they have advanced education and professional/managerial responsibilities, why shouldn't they make that much?
 
Although one can never make a blanket statement about "government employees," as there are thousands of them who are doing great work with little appreciation, the money thrown at government employees overall is the biggest source of taxpayer abuse in the country.

I worked for 8 years in DoD (3 in the Army) and saw a LOT in that time.

For most government employees, they are there because no sane private employer would hire them, or because they graduated at the bottom of their class and they would have been in dead-end careers in the private sector from day one because of it. Other government employees see themselves as on a mission from god (small 'g') and are determined to use their position of power to bully people and businesses with legal impunity, and a government position is their only way of doing it.

Government employees generally exhibit the traits of all workers in socialist systems. They dutifully do the absolute minimum of work, for the absolute minimum amount of time required - which refers to both the work-day, the work-year, and the career overall. You read these numbers about Millennials not using up all their vacation time? Not so for government workers; they use all their vacation and other allowed time off, to the microsecond.

Government employees comprise the largest single bloc of voters in our society, but it is considered rude to point that out. In union negotiations, politicians learned many decades ago that pissed off employees can cost you an election. In big cities like New York,, LA, Philadelphia, and Chicago, government employees and their voting dependents absolutely control the results of elections, which explains the amazingly generous wages and benefits of the government employees - even/especially in cities that are bankrupt. Often, it is desirable to minimize salary increases, because these are obvious and can't be concealed, so the compensation is hidden in generous benefits and absurdly-early retirement. So that basically we pay our government employees TWO YEARS PAY AND BENEFITS for every year that they actually "work." (Almost half the people on luxury cruises around the world are government retirees. Not surprising when you consider that their retirements are 2-3 times longer than the average working person).

The money paid to Federal Government GS employees (salary plus bonus) is astounding, especially when you consider that they have no real "collective bargaining" rights. Their union contracts do not address wages, which are set by law. My theory is that Congress and the cognizant Federal officials set wages based on the cost of living in Washington, D.C., so it may be reasonable there, but it is wildly generous in Flyover Country.

Everyone who pays attention of government fiscal responsibility as a general issue is appalled and frightened of the tsunami in cost to the taxpayers that is staring us in the face, in the form of pensions and benefits promised to our government employees at all levels. And the fact that your own state or municipality is behaving rationally - they will all be ganged together in the necessary final solution, so that the profligacy of places like Chicago will be visited on all of us.

Fortunately for me, I'm retired and my income is not worth raiding to pay for it.
 
Hell. Half the Fed employees and consultants could disappear tomorrow and no one would notice.
 
Although one can never make a blanket statement about "government employees," as there are thousands of them who are doing great work with little appreciation, the money thrown at government employees overall is the biggest source of taxpayer abuse in the country.

I worked for 8 years in DoD (3 in the Army) and saw a LOT in that time.

For most government employees, they are there because no sane private employer would hire them, or because they graduated at the bottom of their class and they would have been in dead-end careers in the private sector from day one because of it. Other government employees see themselves as on a mission from god (small 'g') and are determined to use their position of power to bully people and businesses with legal impunity, and a government position is their only way of doing it.

Government employees generally exhibit the traits of all workers in socialist systems. They dutifully do the absolute minimum of work, for the absolute minimum amount of time required - which refers to both the work-day, the work-year, and the career overall. You read these numbers about Millennials not using up all their vacation time? Not so for government workers; they use all their vacation and other allowed time off, to the microsecond.

Government employees comprise the largest single bloc of voters in our society, but it is considered rude to point that out. In union negotiations, politicians learned many decades ago that pissed off employees can cost you an election. In big cities like New York,, LA, Philadelphia, and Chicago, government employees and their voting dependents absolutely control the results of elections, which explains the amazingly generous wages and benefits of the government employees - even/especially in cities that are bankrupt. Often, it is desirable to minimize salary increases, because these are obvious and can't be concealed, so the compensation is hidden in generous benefits and absurdly-early retirement. So that basically we pay our government employees TWO YEARS PAY AND BENEFITS for every year that they actually "work." (Almost half the people on luxury cruises around the world are government retirees. Not surprising when you consider that their retirements are 2-3 times longer than the average working person).

The money paid to Federal Government GS employees (salary plus bonus) is astounding, especially when you consider that they have no real "collective bargaining" rights. Their union contracts do not address wages, which are set by law. My theory is that Congress and the cognizant Federal officials set wages based on the cost of living in Washington, D.C., so it may be reasonable there, but it is wildly generous in Flyover Country.

Everyone who pays attention of government fiscal responsibility as a general issue is appalled and frightened of the tsunami in cost to the taxpayers that is staring us in the face, in the form of pensions and benefits promised to our government employees at all levels. And the fact that your own state or municipality is behaving rationally - they will all be ganged together in the necessary final solution, so that the profligacy of places like Chicago will be visited on all of us.

Fortunately for me, I'm retired and my income is not worth raiding to pay for it.

I worked 33 years in the Federal Government and here is what I saw

When I started, Federal Government paid significantly less than the private sector for professional employees, managers and clerical workers. Because of low pay, they did hire at the bottom of the barrel and placed people in positions they were not qualified for

In the 90's there was a massive hiring freeze affecting pay and benefits. This was at a time of the Dot Com/Cellular boom when private sector pay skyrocketed. This is probably the low point in terms of quality of employees

By the time I retired in 2011, the Federal Government was hiring the best and the brightest. We were getting top workers from the private sector who begged for a government job. The reason was not an increase in federal pay but government pay and benefits remaining constant while the private sector was slashing worker compensation. These workers now valued a steady government job after a decade of private sector layoffs and downsizing
 
My view of Federal employment was ....you get what you pay for

If government lawyers are getting paid a fraction of what corporate lawyers are getting, they will get their asses kicked in court
If government engineers are low level and low paid, they are unable to engage top level private sector engineers in discussions of technical merit
If government accountants make significantly less than corporate accountants, they are unable to argue the finer points of laws and regulations
 
My view of Federal employment was ....you get what you pay for

If government lawyers are getting paid a fraction of what corporate lawyers are getting, they will get their asses kicked in court
If government engineers are low level and low paid, they are unable to engage top level private sector engineers in discussions of technical merit
If government accountants make significantly less than corporate accountants, they are unable to argue the finer points of laws and regulations

Its not that we begrudge government workers decent/competitive pay, its the benefits as well, such as healthcare and pensions. What upsets me is the duplication and waste in government. Years ago the Grace Commission found billions that could be saved, but Congress wouldn't accept the recommendations. My recommendation is to form a Grace Commission II to shring government, and to implement a "transaction tax" on all stock transaction to get income from high-frequency traders.
 
My view of Federal employment was ....you get what you pay for

If government lawyers are getting paid a fraction of what corporate lawyers are getting, they will get their asses kicked in court
If government engineers are low level and low paid, they are unable to engage top level private sector engineers in discussions of technical merit
If government accountants make significantly less than corporate accountants, they are unable to argue the finer points of laws and regulations

Its not that we begrudge government workers decent/competitive pay, its the benefits as well, such as healthcare and pensions. What upsets me is the duplication and waste in government. Years ago the Grace Commission found billions that could be saved, but Congress wouldn't accept the recommendations. My recommendation is to form a Grace Commission II to shring government, and to implement a "transaction tax" on all stock transaction to get income from high-frequency traders.

When I entered the government in 1978 just out of college, I was offered a salary about 85% of what other engineers in my class were offered. When I complained about the low salary they were offering, they countered with you get great healthcare and you can retire at 55.
I was 21 and the thought of retiring at 55 was the furthest thing from my mind.
However, when I retired at 55 and got the pension. It was the best economic decision I made in my life
 
U.S. Federal Government Employee Lookup

On this website you can look up various federal agencies and see what people make.

For instance, the "Wage and Hour" Division. Almost 1800 employees, many making over $100K per year.

Wage and Hour Division Salary Statistics

You can see all the worthless government organizations that we fund on a yearly basis.

If they have advanced education and professional/managerial responsibilities, why shouldn't they make that much?

The teat can only take so much....
 
U.S. Federal Government Employee Lookup

On this website you can look up various federal agencies and see what people make.

For instance, the "Wage and Hour" Division. Almost 1800 employees, many making over $100K per year.

Wage and Hour Division Salary Statistics

You can see all the worthless government organizations that we fund on a yearly basis.

If they have advanced education and professional/managerial responsibilities, why shouldn't they make that much?

The teat can only take so much....

The number of federal employees has not increased in 50 years even though our population has nearly doubled
 
Hell. Half the Fed employees and consultants could disappear tomorrow and no one would notice.
Until you try to call a department and couldn't get an answer on the phone, letter or email..

I have never needed to call ANY of these departments. EVER.
I never needed to call a cop, let's get rid of them also..I am glad you agree...

Great argument. Shows a lot of common sense. Or as much as I would expect.
 
Rightwinger, you seem rational, so I'll accept what you say about new hires. My experience is dated. As for the raw number of fed employees, I will have to check that, what with TSA, border staff and whatnot. Don't forget that The World has doubled it's productivity in recent years due to technology.
 
A huge chunk of fed employees are about to retire . So you will find them at the higher end of the wage scale .
 

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