MaggieMae
Reality bits
- Apr 3, 2009
- 24,043
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It's a pretty common figure of speech. To address the matter more directly, pay for government employees is shitty.
No it's not. They are paid far more than the private sector for comparable jobs.
No, they're not. They'd paid more on average than the private sector, but that's also because they tend to be better educated and have more years of experience. Once you account for those differences, they'd paid much less than their private sector counterparts.
Maybe she's referring more to lower levels, like the thousands of clerical assistants. Government jobs have ALWAYS paid more; much more. My very first job out of high school, long before I went after a college degree, was with the Department of the Army local reserve office. I had worked for only a few months at a savings and loan, got the notification that I had passed the Civil Service exam and was immediately offered the job as Secretary to the CO making three times what I did at the bank. I also had free medical and dental, and three weeks paid vacation. And that was in the mid-60's.