What Debt Crisis? Fed Workers Making More Than Governors

Saturday, 04 Jun 2011 07:57 PM
By Chris Gonsalves

At a time when many American workers are struggling to make ends meet and government debt is threatening to undermine economic recovery, thousands of federal employees are raking in bigger salaries than the governors of the states where they live, a new report reveals.

In fact, federal public employees now make twice the salaries of their private sector counterparts -- annual earnings that top $123,000. The median US household income, by comparison, is $52,000 annually.

The report from the non-partisan Congressional Research Service shows that more than 77,000 federal workers -- in jobs ranging from medicine and air traffic control to public relations, computer programming, and even interior decorating -- earned more in 2009 than their state's chief executive.

“Across America, governors are being asked to do more with less, often at lower pay than federal employees in their states. The pay gap between governors and federal employees should prompt Congress to take a closer look at federal salaries,â€