Government Pay Outpaces Private Sector

by Kate Piercy Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow Veronique de Rugy provides a chart showing the changes in federal and private annual wages this decade: Her research shows: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 2001 to 2009 average annual private pay grew by 24.9%, total government pay grew by 30.1%, and federal pay...

by Kate Piercy

Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow Veronique de Rugy provides a chart showing the changes in federal and private annual wages this decade:

Her research shows:

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 2001 to 2009 average annual private pay grew by 24.9%, total government pay grew by 30.1%, and federal pay grew by 38.4%.  This pay growth compounded an existing pay differential; initially higher federal and total government annual pay rates grew faster than private pay rates this decade.

She further discusses the debate between public and private sector pay on The Corner, asking, “What’s a Federal Employee Worth?”

Is comparing public and private sector pay like comparing apples and oranges? See what the Cato Institute’s Ted DeHaven has to say about it.