Item — HN Reader

The law caps federal salaries at $155,500. Congress could change it, but given that they seem to have trouble passing a budget, that doesn't seem likely very soon. :)

That said, I think there are enough people that a) find $155k enough to meet their needs and b) believe in the mission that we'll be able to make a big impact.

(One thing that's important to remember—"the government" doesn't really act like a unified, coordinated entity. Different branches and agencies have different incentives and behave in different ways. It's often better to think of the government as a marketplace rather than an organization.)

1 comments

$155K is a good to very good salary in Boston. DC proper isn't much more expensive. I'd take $155K in DC for two years.

155K is the cap for federal salaries, not the typical salary. The 155K number (which is not quite right) is for the highest ranking execs short of SES (CIO / CTO level for many organizations. http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-...

Plus, there isn't any stock/equity/etc. And less perks (for example, free food can easily be effectively raise your salary by a couple grand).

the lifetime value of a pension will ultimately totally dwarf the value of free lunch and snacks

Government employees that were hired since the 1986 don't get a "pension" any more they are under a new retirement system called FERS that consists of Social Security, an IRA like retirement savings plan called the Thrift Savings Program, and very small basic benefit plan which only pays a fraction of their salary and isn't indexed for inflation.

FERS website says the annuity rate is 1% per year of service of the average of your highest 3 years of service. Sounds like a defined benefit to me. (even if percent-per-year is higher in some local agencies)

True, but is isn't a good one, for that "privilege" employees are forced to pay 4.4% of their salary per year into the fund.

If you work out the math depending on what assumptions you make it's only worth about $5k-$10k per year in compensation so it doesn't really make up for the huge disparity in pay between private contractor and government employees.

You would be hard pressed to convince me that as it is presently structured that it presents some great value to the employee.

True, forgot about that.

I realize. I doubt that group is getting pegged to the normal scale. =)