Reply to Well paid government employees who can't afford a one or two week shutdown

Forum Index » Jobs and Careers

Reply to "Well paid government employees who can't afford a one or two week shutdown "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]12 years ago Fed employees were middle class earners — now in DC with tech and crypto and finance, Feds are LMC and stretched thin. [/quote]

Well first, there are two kinds of feds. The feds who tend to hang out on DCUM are often in white collar jobs, have graduate degrees, and make high grade federal salaries as a result. This board is full of fed lawyers, economists, scientists, etc., who can easily make 120-180k in DC depending on grade and step (DC gets a locality bump for cost of living). In a dual-fed couple, that's a very healthy income even in this area and not "lower middle class".

But even feds making less money, GS 12 and below, can still have a decent HHI if they are married. And if they are in their 30s, 40s or 50s, they will often have been able to buy property before rates went up. A dual income couple in this area making 150-200k will still be okay if they have a reasonable mortgage.

Which is not to say I don't have empathy for feds in those categories, I know it's hard to go without income (I am a freelancer so I am very, very familiar with the dynamic of just not having income for a while and the stress that comes from not being sure when your next paycheck will happen). But I also think people in these categories should be able to survive for a few weeks if necessary.

I feel particularly bad for feds in low-earning roles making 50 or 60k. Maybe single or their spouse is in a similar or lesser paying job. Even if your spouse is still working, at that level it's going to be hard to make ends meet and you are way less likely to have a decent emergency fund. In some cases these workers might be younger and have had less time to prepare. Best case scenario they have family who can help. But it would be a real hardship. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics