This should come as a big surprise to exactly no one, but it’s worth repeating if only to keep us sober of the reality.
According to a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office, the federal government, on average, pays 17% more for employees than does the private sector the same employees.
To put that in perspective, every billion dollars paid to federal employees includes 17 million dollars wasted.
But what the report doesn’t address is the difference in productivity, because it’s nearly impossible to fire federal employees without a literal act of Congress.
Here’s more from CNSNews…
The federal government pays about 17 percent more in total compensation—including both wages and benefits—than the private sector does for similar workers, according to a report by the Congressional Budget Office.
“Overall,” CBO concluded, “total compensation was about 17 percent higher, on average, for federal workers than for similar private-sector workers, indicating that the government spent about 17 percent more on total compensation than it would have if it provided its employees compensation equal to that of their private-sector counterparts.”
“For workers with a bachelor’s degree or less, the cost of total compensation averaged about $60 per hour worked for federal employees, compared to about $46 per hour worked for employees in the private sector with similar observable characteristics,” said the CBO.
“In contrast,” said CBO, “the total compensation averaged about $77 per hour worked for federal employees with a master’s degree, professional degree, or doctorate, which is about $3 less than the average for their private sector counterparts.
