The number of federal workers earning $150,000 or more a year has doubled in the two years since President Obama took office
Update: Bill however argues this is less alarming that it seems:
The big jump in % over $150K is all from the fact that the GS scale maxed out less than $150K in 2005 and over $150K in 2010. It’s totally mechanical, an incident of drawing the line at $150K.
Tags: The party of the state
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I don’t know whether the author of the linked article is dishonest or clueless, but the factoid he cites is highly misleading at best. Most white collar US gvt employees are paid on what is called the GS scale . The highest you can pay the overwhelming majority of federal employees is the top of the GS scale, so really good people (people who have options outside the government) are all paid right at or near the top. The top of the GS scale in Washington, DC was $135K in 2005 and is $155K now. The increase over these years is about 15%, which is roughly inflation over that period for Washington, DC.
The big jump in % over $150K is all from the fact that the GS scale maxed out less than $150K in 2005 and over $150K in 2010. It’s totally mechanical, an incident of drawing the line at $150K, meaningless.
There are problems with the GS scale, of course. It’s too low at the top, leading to problems keeping good people. It’s too high at the bottom, leading to problems with overpaying dead wood. It is also too high overall (which you can see from the low turnover of federal employees). But it has not been increasing particularly quickly.