Sunday, March 7, 2010

Casting stones....

Greetings good citizen,

Well, I guess the ‘thought experiment’ landed flat on its face…oh well.

For my next trick I am going to put you all to sleep in under thirty seconds…

Time me now because here we go!

Tonight’s offering examines the one sector of society that still has a strong, functioning Union…the public sector.

Yessiree Bob, whether you’re a teacher or you work for the highway department, chances are excellent that you are also a dues paying Union member.

And over the years your union has taken good care of you (although one could argue that the ‘kindest’ employer of them all employs you…the taxpayer!) [Better, while the taxpayer cuts your paycheck, unlike the private sector, you don’t answer to them! Your boss is a weasely politician and he doesn’t dare mess with you because of the grief the union can cause him!]

Um, by my calculations you should have nodded off by now so there’s no need to keep writing…

Hat tip: Cryptogon ]


Federal pay ahead of private industry

Federal pay has become a hot political issue in recent months because of concerns over the federal budget deficit and recession-battered wages in the private sector.

Federal pay has become a hot political issue in recent months because of concerns over the federal budget deficit and recession-battered wages in the private sector.

PAYCHECK

The typical federal worker is paid 20% more than a private-sector worker in the same occupation. Median annual salary:
Federal Private Difference
$66,591 $55,500 $11,091

Sources: Bureau of Labor statistics, USA TODAY analysis

By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
Federal employees earn higher average salaries than private-sector workers in more than eight out of 10 occupations, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data finds.

Accountants, nurses, chemists, surveyors, cooks, clerks and janitors are among the wide range of jobs that get paid more on average in the federal government than in the private sector. [Hmmn…interesting place to set the bar, you’d think State workers would also enjoy an advantage over their ‘private sector’ counterparts.]

Overall, federal workers earned an average salary of $67,691 in 2008 for occupations that exist both in government and the private sector, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The average pay for the same mix of jobs in the private sector was $60,046 in 2008, the most recent data available.

CHART: Federal salaries compared to private-sector

These salary figures do not include the value of health, pension and other benefits, which averaged $40,785 per federal employee in 2008 vs. $9,882 per private worker, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. [Um, excuse me? Does it look like the employer (you and me) is getting…er, ripped off? Understand, this is not the employee’s or even the Union’s fault…the INSURANCE COMPANY is the bandit here!]

Federal pay has become a hot political issue in recent months because of concerns over the federal budget deficit and recession-battered wages in the private sector.

Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., made federal pay an issue in his successful campaign to fill Edward Kennedy's seat and is fighting for a pay freeze. [Believe me what I tell you, Jerky ran the usual ‘vote for me, I’m a Rep…Independent!’ campaign which was virtually devoid of issues…he didn’t run on nothing except his military background and his Japanese pick-up truck…]

The federal government spends about $125 billion annually on compensation for about 2 million civilian employees. [Understand good citizen, Legislators and Judges make astronomical (compared to the private sector) incomes with benefits the average worker only dreams about!]

"The data flip the conventional wisdom on its head," says Cato Institute budget analyst Chris Edwards, a critic of federal pay policy. "Federal workers make substantially more than private workers, not less, in addition to having a large advantage in benefits." [Leave it to the Libbies to provide cover for the greedheads! (The Cato Institute is a Libertarian ‘think tank’ which is weird because there is no evidence to support the notion that libertarians actually think!)]

But National Treasury Employees Union President Colleen Kelley says the comparison is faulty because it "compares apples and oranges." Federal accountants, for example, perform work that has more complexity and requires more skill than accounting work in the private sector, she says. [One can only imagine it must take a considerable amount of skill to torture the economic numbers into the figures the government publishes…nobody is claiming that the pay differential isn’t ‘hush money’.]

"When you look at the actual duties, you see that very few federal jobs align with those in the private sector," she says. She says federal employees are paid an average of 26% less than non-federal workers doing comparable work. [Um, it is more than a little counterproductive to claim public sector employment is ‘more difficult’ than private sector employment due to all of those horny congress critters chasing you around! Apparently board level executives have been known to give politicians a run for their money when it comes to the sexual harassment of their employees!]

Office of Personnel Management spokeswoman Sedelta Verble, says higher pay also reflects the longevity and older age of federal workers. [Um, that’s just cruel! Rubbing in the fact that private sector employees have a shorter ‘shelf life’ than their unionized counterparts enjoy.]

USA TODAY used Bureau of Labor Statistics data to compare salaries in every federal job that had a private-sector equivalent. For example, the federal government's 57,000 registered nurses — working for the Veterans Administration and elsewhere — were paid an average of $74,460 a year, $10,680 more than the average for private-sector nurses.

The BLS reports that 216 occupations covering 1.1 million federal workers exist in both the federal government and the private sector. An additional 124 federal occupations covering 750,000 employees — air-traffic controllers, tax collectors and others — did not have direct equivalents, according to the BLS.

Federal jobs have more limited salary ranges than private-sector jobs, some of which have million-dollar payouts. [Um, it appears they are saying private sector employment ‘enjoys’ ‘million dollar payouts’…especially if you work on Wall Street.]

Key findings:

• Federal. The federal pay premium cut across all job categories — white-collar, blue-collar, management, professional, technical and low-skill. In all, 180 jobs paid better average salaries in the federal government; 36 paid better in the private sector.


•Private. The private sector paid more on average in a select group of high-skill occupations, including lawyers, veterinarians and airline pilots. The government's 5,200 computer research scientists made an average of $95,190, about $10,000 less than the average in the corporate world.

•State and local. State government employees had an average salary of $47,231 in 2008, about 5% less than comparable jobs in the private sector. City and county workers earned an average of $43,589, about 2% more than private workers in similar jobs. State and local workers have higher total compensation than private workers when the value of benefits is included.

Job comparison

Average federal salaries exceed average private-sector pay in 83% of comparable occupations. A sampling of average annual salaries in 2008, the most recent data:
Job Federal Private Difference
Airline pilot, copilot, flight engineer $93,690 $120,012 -$26,322
Broadcast technician $90,310 $49,265 $41,045
Budget analyst $73,140 $65,532 $7,608
Chemist $98,060 $72,120 $25,940
Civil engineer $85,970 $76,184 $9,786
Clergy $70,460 $39,247 $31,213
Computer, information systems manager $122,020 $115,705 $6,315
Computer support specialist $45,830 $54,875 -$9,045
Cook $38,400 $23,279 $15,121
Crane, tower operator $54,900 $44,044 $10,856
Dental assistant $36,170 $32,069 $4,101
Economist $101,020 $91,065 $9,955
Editors $42,210 $54,803 -$12,593
Electrical engineer $86,400 $84,653 $1,747
Financial analysts $87,400 $81,232 $6,168
Graphic designer $70,820 $46,565 $24,255
Highway maintenance worker $42,720 $31,376 $11,344
Janitor $30,110 $24,188 $5,922
Landscape architects $80,830 $58,380 $22,450
Laundry, dry-cleaning worker $33,100 $19,945 $13,155
Lawyer $123,660 $126,763 -$3,103
Librarian $76,110 $63,284 $12,826
Locomotive engineer $48,440 $63,125 -$14,685
Machinist $51,530 $44,315 $7,215
Mechanical engineer $88,690 $77,554 $11,136
Office clerk $34,260 $29,863 $4,397
Optometrist $61,530 $106,665 -$45,135
Paralegals $60,340 $48,890 $11,450
Pest control worker $48,670 $33,675 $14,995
Physicians, surgeons $176,050 $177,102 -$1,052
Physician assistant $77,770 $87,783 -$10,013
Procurement clerk $40,640 $34,082 $6,558
Public relations manager $132,410 $88,241 $44,169
Recreation worker $43,630 $21,671 $21,959
Registered nurse $74,460 $63,780 $10,680
Respiratory therapist $46,740 $50,443 -$3,703
Secretary $44,500 $33,829 $10,671
Sheet metal worker $49,700 $43,725 $5,975
Statistician $88,520 $78,065 $10,455
Surveyor $78,710 $67,336 $11,374


There are a few arguments going on here, naturally, the thrust of this article is that Federal workers are overpaid. (and have way better benefit packages than you’ll find in the private sector…below the glass ceiling.)

Oh yeah Bub, your ‘average’ (unionized) civil servant is a lot better off financially than their private sector counterparts…BUT the ‘crème de la crème’ of pay/benefit packages are still the exclusive domain of the private sector.

So once again we find the MSM using their ‘bully pulpit’ to rouse the rabble or worse, mis-direct their anger.

Not getting paid enough…whose fault is it? Your employer makes enough and to spare (and he gets his by denying you yours!) Like the old adage goes, ‘It’s not what you make, it’s what you keep.’

We could look at this article as an example of what workers in the private sector ‘should be’ making, but their bosses aren’t being held accountable.

This is why employers HATE unions…because unions hold employers accountable. If it weren’t for our ‘elected representatives’ selling our unions out, we’d still enjoy a vibrant, thriving economy.

Um, those who have betrayed us owe us a debt…and it will soon be time to collect.

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner

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