Union responds to report on $150,000 salaries for federal workers

The number of federal workers paid over $150,000 per year has doubled since President Obama took office, and they now constitute about 10 times the proportion of that workforce compared with 2005, according to a USA Today analysis.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) told the paper that he will try to block President Obama's plan to raise federal salaries 1.4 percent across the board during the lame-duck session. He prefers a salary freeze or a 10 percent cut.

The key finding reported by USA Today's Dennis Cauchon:

Federal workers earning $150,000 or more make up 3.9% of the workforce, up from 0.4% in 2005. Since 2000, federal pay and benefits have increased 3% annually above inflation compared with 0.8% for private workers, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

But one government employee union says the report misrepresents pay trends for federal workers.

The National Federation of Federal Employees, which represents over 100,000 workers, took issue with the story in a statement to The Upshot. The union argues that the cap on pay was $149,000 in 2008 and was raised by 2.9 percent to $153,000 by Congress for 2009 for the "high-level federal managers, doctors, lawyers, and other highly skilled professionals" who receive the highest salaries. The onetime increase makes the figure $150,000 "an arbitrary numerical threshold with no meaningful implications for growth of federal compensation."

The pay increase was proposed by President George W. Bush "making Mr. Cauchon's allegation that 'federal workers earning $150,000 or more a year has … doubled since President Obama took office,' purely circumstantial," the union adds. (UPDATE: Obama approved the pay bump when he signed the budget in March 2009.)

The Department of Defense's now-defunct pay system also allowed some federal employees to get paid more than the federal limits, thus inflating the total average.

But one thing is certain: In a recession, public-sector jobs have proved much more secure than private ones. Forbes D.C. bureau chief Brian Wingfield wonders whether the growth in overall salaries may be attributed to highly skilled private-sector workers fleeing their better-paying jobs for the job security the government can provide in a recession.

This isn't the first time Cauchon has called attention to federal salaries. He wrote earlier this year that public sector employees out-earned private ones in 8 out of 10 occupations, based on his analysis.

The White House budget director at the time, Peter Orszag, questioned Cauchon's math. "When you factor in the [often higher levels of] education and experience of the federal workforce, there is no statistically significant difference in average pay levels," Orszag wrote on the White House website.

(Photo of teachers at a National Education Association conference: AP)