New data show average federal compensation now more than double the private sector average!

Opinion at The Wall Street Journal

Notable & Quotable : Chris Edwards on federal employee pay levels

The Cato Institute's Chris Edwards commenting on the institute's Web site about a new report on federal employee pay levels from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis:

The George W. Bush years were very lucrative for federal workers. In 2000, the average compensation (wages and benefits) of federal workers was 66% higher than the average compensation in the U.S. private sector. The new data show that average federal compensation is now more than double the average in the private sector. . . . It's time to put a stop to this. Federal wages should be frozen for a period of years, at least until the private-sector economy has recovered and average workers start seeing some wage gains of their own. At the same time, gold-plated federal benefit packages should be scaled back as unaffordable given today's massive budget deficits. There are many qualitative benefits of government work—such as extremely high job security—so taxpayers should not have to pay for such lavish government pay packages.