Anonymous wrote:In addition to the pension, federal employees also have generous sick leave and annual leave.

Good for them. Generous sick leave is something all employees should have. The US is the only developed country that doesn’t offer any guaranteed sick leave.

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Anonymous wrote:How much is a federal pension? Ballpark

That’s a difficult one to answer because you have the old pension (CSRS) and the newer one (FERS). It’s also based on years of service and high 3 salary. Also, there are certain positions (law enforcement) where you are able to retire early and start collecting immediately and get salary enhancements (LEAP) built into salaries/pensions. For example, I was in the old system, employed as a federal agent, had 30 years of service at age 50 (when I retired) and collect 72% of my high 3 salary plus COLA’s. My pension is about $130k.

But you don’t get social security under old system..just the pension..correct?

If you work afterwards, you can (but a reduced amount)

Why are so many people posting about teachers’ pensions here? The question is about fed pensions.

And the reality is that the standard GS pension is worse than the military pension, public teacher pensions, county and local government pensions, university pensions, and corporate pensions (yes there are several times more people enrolled in private company pension plans than in the federal plan).

When someone asks about my generous pension, I tell them that in my STEM field the newly minted graduates are hired into nonprofit research institutes at about the same salary as I’m currently making in my fifties with 33 years of career experience. Without a decent pension and retirement health care I would have left decades ago. Plenty of us do.

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Anonymous wrote:I’m jealous of gov employee job security. My spouse is a gov employee and I routinely meet coworkers that are as dumb as rocks making enormous salaries that they would in no way be commanding in the private industry. Somehow they plod along slowly and inefficiently for decades at the cost of taxpayers until they retire at salary levels entirely incommensurate with their intelligence or work abilities. I wish I could have a gov job!

I don't agree with the dumb as rocks quote, but to think that the majority of govt workers could earn more in the private sector is a fallacy. Sure there is some specialties where the govt worker could leave and make more but that is not typical. For the most part , they have decent salaries and very generous benefits. Plus even if they are mediocre they have job security.

There have been lots of studies on this— it depends on the job. Professional jobs like lawyers, doctors, CS are definitely paid less than the private sector.

Low level jobs (like cleaning) make more than the private sector (although I’d say it’s more that the private sector is just crap).

+1. Tons of data out there about which jobs are paid more and which less, no need to speculate, use the data.

My DH left biglaw for a fed job. I can assure you that nobody was jealous of the salary or benefits, but they were jealous that he "escaped" to a better work-life balance (and no billables).

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Anonymous wrote:I’m jealous of gov employee job security. My spouse is a gov employee and I routinely meet coworkers that are as dumb as rocks making enormous salaries that they would in no way be commanding in the private industry. Somehow they plod along slowly and inefficiently for decades at the cost of taxpayers until they retire at salary levels entirely incommensurate with their intelligence or work abilities. I wish I could have a gov job!

I don't agree with the dumb as rocks quote, but to think that the majority of govt workers could earn more in the private sector is a fallacy. Sure there is some specialties where the govt worker could leave and make more but that is not typical. For the most part , they have decent salaries and very generous benefits. Plus even if they are mediocre they have job security.

There have been lots of studies on this— it depends on the job. Professional jobs like lawyers, doctors, CS are definitely paid less than the private sector.

Low level jobs (like cleaning) make more than the private sector (although I’d say it’s more that the private sector is just crap).

Anonymous wrote:I’m jealous of gov employee job security. My spouse is a gov employee and I routinely meet coworkers that are as dumb as rocks making enormous salaries that they would in no way be commanding in the private industry. Somehow they plod along slowly and inefficiently for decades at the cost of taxpayers until they retire at salary levels entirely incommensurate with their intelligence or work abilities. I wish I could have a gov job!

I don't agree with the dumb as rocks quote, but to think that the majority of govt workers could earn more in the private sector is a fallacy. Sure there is some specialties where the govt worker could leave and make more but that is not typical. For the most part , they have decent salaries and very generous benefits. Plus even if they are mediocre they have job security.

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Anonymous wrote:I work in a non-profit, so arguably, really serving--not faux "public service" that government employees claim. So I probably make less and do not get a pension. So please spare me the "years of public service." We're all working hard, so there's no argument there. You are not changing the world, and you didn't go into government work to make the world a better place, you did it for security, the fact that it's nearly impossible to get fired, and for the pension. Public service. Please.

Honestly I feel the same way.

If you were in the military, you served.

If you’re a 100% remote non-sup GS15 who’s spent 20 years with the U.S. govt, I’m not convinced that you spent your career “serving the public.” Most Feds I know are bored at work and stick around for flexibility and security.

But either way you’ve earned your pension so I won’t begrudge you!

I'm a fed who is bored at work and have stuff cuz around for the security and pension, and I still think what I do is public service.

I'm a structural engineer with now 20+ years of technical expertise. In the private sector I would make double what I make for the fed, plus years of bonuses. What I do is essential and I'm good at it, even if at this stage I'm bored and don't feel that passionate about it anymore.

So why not quit and go where you’re worth?

Suspect because they are 20+ years in. At this point you stick it out and get the pension/healthcare/whatever benefits are available. You get the reward for taking a much lower paying jobs for the last 20 years.

In addition to the pension, federal employees also have generous sick leave and annual leave.

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Anonymous wrote:I’m jealous of gov employee job security. My spouse is a gov employee and I routinely meet coworkers that are as dumb as rocks making enormous salaries that they would in no way be commanding in the private industry. Somehow they plod along slowly and inefficiently for decades at the cost of taxpayers until they retire at salary levels entirely incommensurate with their intelligence or work abilities. I wish I could have a gov job!

+1

It’s also crazy how bloated the government is. They hire 8 people to do the job of one person

You speak as if the government is some small group of people in a back office. There’s so many agencies and missions. There could be some areas like this but where I am it’s a lot of understaffing and budget cuts.

Anonymous wrote:I’m jealous of gov employee job security. My spouse is a gov employee and I routinely meet coworkers that are as dumb as rocks making enormous salaries that they would in no way be commanding in the private industry. Somehow they plod along slowly and inefficiently for decades at the cost of taxpayers until they retire at salary levels entirely incommensurate with their intelligence or work abilities. I wish I could have a gov job!

+1

It’s also crazy how bloated the government is. They hire 8 people to do the job of one person

I’m jealous of gov employee job security. My spouse is a gov employee and I routinely meet coworkers that are as dumb as rocks making enormous salaries that they would in no way be commanding in the private industry. Somehow they plod along slowly and inefficiently for decades at the cost of taxpayers until they retire at salary levels entirely incommensurate with their intelligence or work abilities. I wish I could have a gov job!

Anonymous wrote:I would only be jealous of a fed pension if they started 15 years ago. Newer feds pay in a lot more to get the same pension amount so it's lower salary in reality. Sucks.

I started in 2011, right before they more than quintupled the employee retirement contribution. I pay 0.8% of salary into FERS while a younger Fed at half my salary pays 4.4% into FERS-FRAE. It's criminal what the Baby Boomer elites did to the younger generations.

And I can leave the Feds for a while, come back, and I'm still grandfathered into the 0.8% FERS system.

Anonymous wrote:I would only be jealous of a fed pension if they started 15 years ago. Newer feds pay in a lot more to get the same pension amount so it's lower salary in reality. Sucks.

Yea but you would need to have many millions of dollars in a 401k to generate the sort of income you’ll get from a pension

Anonymous wrote:I would not seek a fed govt job for the current pension offering.....its mice nuts compared to the legacy fed pension that was phased out during the 80s sometime.

Now....pensions are still lucrative at the state/local level across the US, and particularly those working in the public safety positions. Fed Govt - nothing to write home about....its a fraction vs. the legacy fed pension that was overhauled in the 80s sometime.

Trust me on the above...I used to work PT as a tax prepared until a couple of years ago.

This. There are still retired feds around getting the wonderful pre 1990s federal pensions, but no one currently working for the government under about 70 years old qualifies for those pensions.

The best thing about fed jobs is the potential job stability, but the shutdowns are starting to cut into that as well.