With the economy and joblessness looking grim for many Americans, federal workers are suddenly in the cross hairs — with a likely pay raise on the way and six-figure salaries on the rise.
House members this week approved and sent to the Senate a budget resolution that includes a 2 percent raise for federal civilian employees. President Obama, who recommended the raise, is expected to sign it.
While many workers in the private sector have despaired of a pay increase in the past few years, Congress takes care of federal employees with annual raises, awarding 3.9 percent in 2009, 3.5 percent in 2008 and 2.7 percent in 2007.
The average pay for the nation’s 1.9 million federal workers is a little over $71,000, with the 372,041 federal workers in the Washington area earning an average of $94,047. The average salary for the nation’s 108 million private-sector workers is $50,028.
While the proposed pay increase for next year is relatively small, the boost combined with an increase in federal government salaries amid a looming budget deficit crisis and the nation’s 10 percent unemployment rate managed to raise some eyebrows.
“I about fell off my chair when I saw that the number of federal employees making more than $150,000 have more than doubled in the last 18 months,” said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican. “While the American people are hurting, the federal government is padding its pocket. This is totally inappropriate and unacceptable.”
Chaffetz, ranking member on the subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia, is asking for a hearing on federal workers pay.
A story in USA Today earlier this week detailing an explosion in the number of federal government employees making over $100,000 generated more than 1,700 comments on the newspaper’s Web site — many of them disparaging the workers.
“Federal workers are always an easy target,” said Jessica Klement, director of government affairs for the Federal Managers Association. “People think of the government bureaucrat with a job for life — but that doesn’t tell the whole story.”
Some of the nation’s 1.9 million federal employees are doing pretty well, according to the Office of Personnel Management database. The best-paid categories of federal workers include physicians, veterinarians, lawyers and public information officers, among others
The governmentwide average salary for a public affairs officer is $84,442. Providing legal counsel to the Peace Corps pays $144,222; a podiatrist in the federal government is paid $139,756.
The government database tracks the salaries of federal workers in the various Cabinet departments and federal agencies, excluding postal workers, the White House, Congress, the military and others.
The USA Today analysis said the number of federal workers earning more than $100,000 a year increased from 14 percent in December 2007 to 19 percent in June 2009.
Klement said it’s not unusual for highly skilled workers such as cancer researchers, administrative judges and others to make a good salary on the federal payroll. She said that overall, only 1 percent of the federal work force is making more than $170,000 a year.
Obama earlier this year imposed a pay freeze on White House employees making over $100,000 — about one-third of the nearly 500-member executive office work force.
Obama’s top lieutenants, including senior adviser David Axelrod, spokesman Robert Gibbs and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, each are paid $172,200 a year. The president is paid $400,000.
