#232 (6/14) - Even Government Workers Admit They Got It Better

[NOTE: Yesterday's posting described how the President actually has a low view of the PRIVATE worker economy and wants us to focus on increasing the numbers of PUBLIC (ie, GOVERNMENT)workers. (Notice that he tends to talks mainly about teachers, firemen, police - ie, people belonging to government unions, who just happen to be his biggest financial supporters. Coincidence?) Below, read about how even government workers know they have much better (and secure) pay packages than many comparable workers in the private sector. To use one of the President's favorite words, is that "fair?" - Stan]

"Do Government Workers Think They’re Better Off?"
- Mike Brownfield, April 10, 2012
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/04/10/do-government-workers-think-theyre-better-off/

It’s hard to deny the benefits of working for Uncle Sam — outstanding benefits, good pay, and great job security. Though some government workers might throw up their arms in protest when confronted with the facts, a new poll shows that nearly half of government workers now say private sector employees work harder than them. Government Executive reports:

"Sixty-six percent of 1,000 adults polled recently by Rasmussen Reports said they believed private sector employees work harder than government employees, and 56 percent believed government workers earn more annually.
Nearly half of government workers in the survey — 46 percent — agreed they don’t work as hard as their private sector counterparts; 32 percent said they work harder, and 22 percent were not sure. The government workers also saw eye to eye with their private sector counterparts about job security: 62 percent of government employees said they have more security and 67 percent of overall respondents held that view.
Where government workers are wrong is in their belief that the average private sector worker earns more money than them. (According to the poll, only 35 percent believe they make more.) In fact, the opposite is true, as Heritage analysis shows."

In July 2010, Heritage’s James Sherk explained that on average salaries and benefits for identical jobs are 30 percent to 40 percent higher in the federal government than in the private sector. And in June 2011, Heritage’s Jason Richwine authored a study showing that workers who change jobs receive a substantially larger raise when they switch into federal employment rather than into another private job. In February, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report confirming those findings.

These are averages—some government employees do get paid less than they would in the private sector. Here are some solutions: Congress should implement a pay-for-performance system, expand the contracting of federal work to private companies, raise the federal retirement age from 56[
!]to 65, reduce the generosity of federal benefits, and end the near-absolute job security for underperforming federal workers

[bold and italics emphasis mine]
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Chicago Teachers Union Demands 30 Percent Pay Raise - Lindsey Burke, June 12, 2012, http://blog.heritage.org/2012/06/12/chicago-teachers-union-demands-30-percent-pay-raise/

"It takes a lot of nerve to ask for a 30 percent pay raise. You’d better be sure you had a banner year. Yet in Chicago, where just 15 percent of fourth graders are proficient in reading (and just 56 percent of students graduate), the teachers union is set to strike if the district does not... "

"... As Heritage’s Jason Richwine notes, public school teachers should be compensated no better or worse than their similarly skilled private-sector counterparts. '..the teaching profession is not actually underpaid, nor is it an unpopular career choice among college graduates. In fact, total compensation for the average public school teacher is considerably higher than what his or her skills would merit in the private sector. Creating a teacher compensation system that rewards the best teachers in a fiscally responsible manner is a broadly shared goal. To that end, policymakers should avoid across-the-board pay increases, focusing instead on performance pay by easing restrictions on entering the teaching profession, and basing tenure decisions on performance in the classroom."

[bold and italics emphasis mine]