Uncle Sugar Pays Really Well

Government employees are pretty much all lefty, and mostly union. Teachers, AFSCME, SEIU, cops, firefighters, [add to the list APWU] are all organized and active in maximizing their share of everyone else’s income. And they’re darn good at it:

In 2008, the average wage for 1.9 million federal civilian workers was $79,197, which compared to an average $49,935 for the nation’s 108 million private sector workers (measured in full-time equivalents).

Add in the value of guaranteed-benefit pensions and gold-plated health care (like Congress gets):

In 2008, federal worker compensation averaged a remarkable $119,982, which was more than double the private sector average of $59,909.

The average Federal employee is paid $60K more than the average productive employee.

Is it plausible that Federal jobs skew toward higher skills and higher values? Maybe the Feds contract out much of the lower-value work, like clerical and janitorial, so there are lots of rocket scientists pushing the average up.

Or, maybe the system is broken and we’re being screwed.

H/T: Coyote