New Nobility: Feds Paid 78% More Than U.S. Workers

“Federal workers receive health insurance, retirement health benefits, a pension plan with inflation protection, and a retirement savings plan with a government match. They typically receive generous holiday and vacation schedules, flexible work hours, training options, incentive awards, and generous disability benefits,” he said.

“Federal workers know that they have a lucrative combination of compensation and job security, and so they stay much longer than in other industries,” he said.

“It is sometimes assumed that the federal government should employ the nation’s highest-skilled workers, and that it should pay top dollar to get them. But federal hiring of the very best workers imposes an ‘opportunity cost’ on the economy by drawing talented people away from higher-valued activities in the private sector,” Edwards said.

“Unlike, say, France, where the best university graduates historically have gone into government, the United States has historically prospered because the best and brightest have flocked to places such as Silicon Valley.”

Edwards said “federal pay should be reasonable, and we need competent people in federal jobs, assuming that the jobs are useful ones. But the government should not be one of the highest-paid industries in the nation.”

Lower federal pay would encourage more turnover and attract a greater number of younger workers with fresh ideas, he said.

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