Public Service, eh?
From Forbes, word that public service careers are perhaps a bit more lucrative than we thought:
In public-sector America things just get better and better. The common presumption is that public servants forgo high wages in exchange for safe jobs and benefits. The reality is they get all three. State and local government workers get paid an average of $25.30 an hour, which is 33% higher than the private sector’s $19, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Throw in pensions and other benefits and the gap widens to 42% …
I realize that government workers shouldn’t work for peanuts, as should no worker; however, government workers must also keep the perspective that their wages are paid for by the labor of others. Yes, certainly not all employees in the private sector pay directly for their salary–however, the profit motive drives people to work. Without that in government, there seems to be no inspiration to work hard and innovate. However, in taking a government job, there should be a realization that the job would not exist without the consent and work of the people (although often “consent” is rather flimsy, but that is a discussion for another day). The services government workers provide are often times vital to the proper functioning of society, but people work hard to bring in the money that pays for these services, and in my view they deserve to have the government keep salaries balanced to the money brought in by private sector workers. Yet many government workers seem to suffer from the same “me me me” mentality that often plagues people in the public sector.
Perhaps our public servants and elected officials need a civics lesson to remind them just why they are there?
