Civil Servants

[Louis VI the Fat]

New pay system. Congress created a new National Security Personnel System for the Defense Department to reward merit, in addition to the across-the-board increases. The merit raises, which started in January 2008, were larger than expected and rewarded high-ranking employees. In October, Congress voted to end the new pay scale by 2012.

•Pay caps eased. Many top civil servants are prohibited from making more than an agency's leader. But if Congress lifts the boss' salary, others get raises, too. When the Federal Aviation Administration chief's salary rose, nearly 1,700 employees' had their salaries lifted above $170,000, too.

Jessica Klement, government affairs director for the Federal Managers Association, says the federal workforce is highly paid because the government employs skilled people such as scientists, physicians and lawyers. She says federal employees make 26% less than private workers for comparable jobs.

Hang on...

So a Republican congress increases the wages for Federal employees. Does this by increasing the wages for the higher ups and by higher defense spending pork. This will be reversed by a Democrat congress, but in the statistics it will show up for 2009-2012 as the period of increased federal spending?

The Republicans are the most deviously clever political force on the planet.


Edit: Also, might as well repeat that: federal employees make 26% less than private workers for comparable jobs.