President Trump has proposed a one-year pay freeze for federal bureaucrats, which has reinvigorated the debate over whether compensation levels for the civil service are too lavish.
The Washington Post opines this is nothing but “government bashing,” but this chart from my former colleague Chris Edwards should be more than enough evidence to show that federal bureaucrats have a big advantage over workers in the economy’s productive sector.
And there is plenty of additional evidence that federal employment is very attractive. For instance, it’s just about impossible to get fired from a bureaucracy.
Though defenders of the civil service sometimes make the preposterous claim that nobody gets fired because bureaucrats are such good employees.
The low rate at which federal employees are fired for poor performance doesn’t prove the government accepts it but instead “could actually be a positive sign,”… A report from the Merit Systems Protection Board in effect responds to members of Congress and others who contend that federal managers don’t care, or don’t dare, to take disciplinary action because of civil service protections. “…If the agency is successful in preventing poor performance…, a small number of performance-based removals could actually be a positive sign,” MSPB said. …Of the 2.1 million federal employees in a government database…, about 10,000 are fired for either poor performance or misconduct each year. …That low rate of firing has been cited in proposals to force agencies to take action… Individual employees, too, commonly express dissatisfaction with how agencies handle poor performers among their co-workers.
I have to confess that my jaw dropped when I read this article. Maybe we should ask veterans whether they think all federal bureaucrats do a good job?
Or we can ask non-profit groups whether they think IRS bureaucrats are top-quality workers? Or ask anyone who has ever tried to navigate the federal government?
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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
8 comments:
Dave T: Tell me something I don't already know. They also have easier work loads, less quotas, less responsibility, less accountability, and more growth opportunities.
No $hit sherlock.
I worked for the Govt. in D.C. for 12 years. It's almost impossible to fire anyone. Pay is better and time off. As is the healthcare and retirement. But I know from colleagues alot of that has changed in the past few years.
But working in D.C. that pay is deserved. It's the employees working on national parks, or that type of arrangement, on the water, etc., , with no traffic or real stress that get the same pay that griped us.
Dave T - sound a bit sour with your opine. Why didn't you consider civil service?
I wanted to be a park ranger, so I trained to be a low level secretary at a community college. Somehow it didn't work out for me. Boo-hoo for me.
Plus all those benefits.
Then why are you not working for the Federal government - it is open to all.
You didn't move across the bridge where government jobs are located, right!
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