Sick of reading front page stories about bloated federal salaries? Tired of hearing you’ve got it made compared to folks in the private sector?

Relief may be on the way. Maybe.

For the last five or six years, the federal workforce has been the target of various newspapers. First was a page-one report in a national newspaper that said federal workers earn more than non-federal workers. It was followed by revelations that feds doing the same jobs as people in the private sector get bigger salaries and better benefits. The story was sliced and diced numerous times, and picked up by other media. Some of the numbers were accurate, as far as they went.

The average federal worker almost certainly does make more than the average private sector worker. But there’s a reason: Uncle Sam doesn’t do retail! The Justice Department doesn’t employ greeters like some of the very necessary, very successful big box stores. The Internal Revenue Service does many (as many of us know) things. But IRS doesn’t have burger flippers. Or sell shoes.

The government, decades ago, ceased being an army of clerks and pen-pushers in green eye shades (ask your grandfather!). The vast majority of feds are professional or administrative types. Some federal job descriptions literally include rocket scientists. Most private companies don’t.

So how to explain fed-bashing? For much of the media it is easier to go with numbers supplied, and massaged, by anti-government think tanks. Besides bad news gets peoples’ attention. Especially when it reinforces what they already believe.

So, if there is light at the end of the bad-news-tunnel, where is it coming from? Answer: How about last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine. It features a popular column called “The Ethicist” written by Kwame Anthony Appiah. A reader had a question about a perk his federal employee brother enjoys that he, as a private sector type, doesn’t get: Forgiveness of a federal student loan debt in some situations. The reader said his brother repaid his college loan and doesn’t believe his brother should get a break just because he’s a fed.

Appiah gave a lengthy, reasoned reply, which basically said yes, it’s OK for him to take advantage of the perk. Part of his rationale — and this is what many of you have waited a long time to see in print —was this:

“Government employees, even well-paid ones, often earn LESS than people doing comparable jobs in the private sector.”

Can you believe that, in print and especially in the prestigious NY Times. He also said that as long as feds follow the rules “they should feel free to take advantage of whatever benefits are available to them.”

Bingo!

A tipping point? Who knows. Probably not. But one can hope.

Now that the Times has got into the act, the day may come when fed-bashers get tired. Or find a more evil target (like ivory poachers). Or see the light.

Maybe, someday, people who take unfair pot shots, using cooked numbers, at a perceived federal gravy train will figure out that NASA and DARPA aren’t Sears or Macy’s Or that the Department of Energy and NOAA have different missions than Kmart.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

Nearly Useless Factoid

By Michael O’Connell

The average 2015 college graduate has $35,000 in student-loan debt.

Source: Wall Street Journal

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