The Average Federal Employee Is Compensated $123,160

The average federal employee compensation is $123,160 per year, according to a new study by the Cato Institute.

The study shows two major trends: the first being that there is a staggering differential in federal pay and benefits packages and private sector pay and benefits packages; the second being that the differential between these two groups is now growing even larger. It uses Bureau of Economic Analysis data to reach its conclusions.

Currently, the federal government employs around 2.4 million Americans. Since the 1990s, federal employees have outstripped private sector growth rates in compensation and benefits packages, the study reports.

In 2015 alone, federal employee compensation was $123,160, a figure 76 percent more than that paid to private sector counterparts, who received $69,901 on average. Looking at the 2015 numbers, average earnings for the 112 million private sector employees in the U.S. labor-force was just $58,726, according to Cato findings.

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