Fed Legislators, Workers Better Off Than Most Americans

With all of the fiscal challenges facing most Americans during the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression, it pays to be a federal worker or member of Congress, reports the conservative website Heritage.org.

 

The website cites a report from two nonprofit, non-partisan advocacy groups — Our Generation and Taxpayers Protection Alliance — which outlines the earning potential of federal lawmakers and other federal workers. Members of Congress earn a salary of $174,000, a figure that calculates to 3.4 times higher than that of a private-sector employee, whose salary on average is $50,875 per year.

 

Adding in perks — $110,000 in fringe benefits including retirement plans, paid time off, contributions to Medicare and Social Security, and the like — a lawmaker’s compensation totals roughly $285,000 per year, with taxpayers footing the bill.

 

Even compared to those private-sector employees who happen to be more educated –– with an average salary of $83,000 per year — federal lawmakers come up way ahead, the report says.

 

The report compares compensations with 12 other developed nations, with lawmakers in the United States ranked as the “second-highest paid internationally” behind their counterparts in Japan, notes Heritage.org.

 

Federal workers — who have almost complete job security, hefty retirement and health benefit plans, paid leave, on-site child care, and more — earn well above most of their private-sector colleagues by 22 percent more per hour, reports Heritage.org.