In a recent article published in The Washington Post, federal workers are being forced to defend harsh criticim over their salaries.

Thanks to a rough election season as well as a fumbling American economy, many people are now scrambling to make ends meet by cleaning up their finances…This includes the government as well. And after USA Today published a series of articles that showed a growing salary gap between private-sector and federal workers, officials from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) were quick to defend themselves.

In August, USA Today reported that civil servants were receiving an average pay and benefits amounting to approximately $123k for 2009 while private workers were making $61k in total compensation. This same report used data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis to conclude that the aforementioned compensation had grown from $30,415 in 2000 to $62,000 in 2009.

According to a statement obtained from John Berry, the government’s personnel chief,

These stories have compared apples to oranges…We should be applauding these hard-working civil servants, not mischaracterizing them. [source]

Further, according to article published in TWSJ, the data critics are using includes jobs and careers that are tipped in favor of highly educated employees. Tad DeHaven, a budget analyst and blogger for the Cato Institute may have had a point when he was recorded as stating,

The numbers are in the eye of the beholder..[source]

(Via: The Washington Post)