Peter Orzag, the head of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has explained the differences in pay by saying that public employees have more diplomas.
However, in my opinion if the government we are getting is the result of all these diplomas, I would like high-school drop outs to run Congress.
Ain't that the truth! Most of the government workers I have direct experience with are not the sharpest knives in the drawer, diplomas or not. There is some innovation but the cost of that innovation is much higher than in the private sector. Additionally, most of the government workers are bureaucrats following the rule book. To what end are higher level diplomas?
Actual comparisons of education levels between public sector and private sector dispute that statement so try again...
It used to be that public sector pay lagged that of the private sector because you traded money for security. It was and still is very difficult to loose a government job compared to losing a private sector job. The salary discrepancies have been removed and so now you have "tenured" government employees that make on par or more than the private sector, have great benefits and can't be fired easily. The best of all worlds. The big dirty little secret is the pension obligations that are unsustainable at both the Federal and local government levels that will result in either massive tax increases and/or cuts in other current/future services to pay for retirement benefits.
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