In the computer technical fields, most feds and fed contractors make between 15-35% lower than their counterparts in private industry. I am part of a technical association and I watch the annual salary surveys. I worked for 5 years as a manager and had staff that reported to me. I have a general idea what a number of IT professionals at my agency make relative to their years of experience and in general the public sector does not pay as much. You get other benefits, but pay is not one of them.

I'm a lawyer and I'll also top out at $136,771. I think I'm underpaid, as I could easily make 2-3 times that in the private sector. However, the paralegals in our office make $60-80K with high school educations. Most of them can't even compose the simplest of letters and really don't do much work at all. I don't think there is any law firm in town that would pay even $30-40k for the skills they have, so I think they're overly paid.

A lawyer just out of school at my old firm made $165K. I left the firm took a pay cut of over $100K and make
$136,771 -- the maximum amount I can make for my position as a GS-14. If I move to a GS-15 position I can make a maximum of $155,500. I already knew I was under paid in comparison. But I'm O.K. with the salary because the hours and quality of life is better.

What I find annoying is that people still believe I somehow make more than my private sector counterpart just because someone with a HS degree makes more in the federal government than her private sector counterpart.

I think the jist of the article is that the government is wasting money. Yes, some feds are overpaid, but some aren't. And, it's pathetic that the more highly-educated/specialized ones are the ones who are NOT being overpaid. The government is just losing talent.

Who knew, I always thought feds earn lower than private sector workers.

yes, very much overpaid

In my experience with DOJ, the litigation attorneys are definitely underpaid, and it gets worse over time. Once attorneys max out in the DC area at $155K, their salaries stop increasing with experience or seniority. Then, all the really good, highly experienced attorneys get recruited by law firms and leave the govt. It is a waste of the govt's money to have to start with fresh attorneys, train them, and then lose them. Even worse, for really big trials, the govt will sometimes actually pay private practice attorneys (some of them having left the govt for higher pay!) hundreds of thousands of $$$s to litigate for them. Stupid waste of money. If the govt had simply raised their salaries they might not have lost them only to re-hire them at private practice rates.

Anonymous wrote:Not a Fed, but in my experience good Fed employees are underpaid or appropriately paid, but at the lower levels, support staff, time-servers etc. there are some people paid above market rate.

This is it. I'm a fed and cannot stand fed bashing, which is unfair I believe.

That said there are custodial workers and admin assistants making $80-90K/year. Folks with GED or HS diploma only making more than entry level positions where people must have advanced degrees. That is absurd, imo.

Not a Fed, but in my experience good Fed employees are underpaid or appropriately paid, but at the lower levels, support staff, time-servers etc. there are some people paid above market rate.

I'm always suspicious of graphs that try to tell you something but don't have proper labels to tell you what the numbers mean.

If federal workers in blue-collar jobs are paid more than their private sector counterparts, that doesn't mean the federal workers are overpaid. In fact, given what the minimum wage is, it's far more likely that private sector workers are underpaid.

Here we go. Let the fed-bashing begin . . . .

Fed here, in my field higher educated people are paid well, people that have education + experience are not paid nearly as well as industry but way better than non-profits.

On the lower rungs basic employees are not highly paid when they are hired, but over time they accumulate benefits that translate into being overpaid. They can't be fired without significant evidence, so that's a problem too. I've heard the saying that people are promoted such that they hit a ceiling where they no longer perform well. In other words there are a lot of people that don't perform well. Can't wait to leave!

Anecdotally, based on what I see in my agency, this is correct. Painters make 6 figures . . . these are people who roll pre-ordained colors onto walls.

Why do you even need to ask?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/most-federal-workers-overpaid-cbo-223938063.html

Saw this on Yahoo, and have seen it talked about on here before. Apparently, federal workers with advanced degrees are definitely not overpaid, however less educated workers do better working for the govt.