Federal government workers earn 78 percent more than their counter parts in the private sector, a new study
conducted by the Cato Institute reveals.
Private employees earned an average of $56,350 in 2014, while federal workers earned an average of $84,153 that year.
Based off of figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the Cato Institute notes that when adding in benefits pay for federal workers, the difference in pay becomes even more dramatic. As federal employees made $119,934 in total compensation last year, private sector workers only earned $67,246, a difference of over $52,000, or 78 percent.
"Since the 1990s, federal workers have enjoyed faster compensation growth than private-sector workers," according to Chris Edwards, the director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute. "In 2014 federal workers earned 78 percent more, on average, than private-sector workers. Federal workers earned 43 percent more, on average, than state and local government workers."
With more than 2.1 million people working for the federal government, the study notes that this year, alone, it will cost $260 billion in wages and benefits to pay them.
"The federal government has become an elite island of secure and high-paid employment, separated from the ocean of average Americans competing in the economy," Edwards said.
The study concludes that not only do we "need competent people in federal jobs" but, "federal pay should be reasonable" and not one of the highest-paid industries in the nation.
"An advantage of reducing federal pay would be to encourage greater turnover in the static federal workforce," according to the study. "That would help more young people enter government and bring in fresh ideas."
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