GovernmentExecutive.com

Nearly 60 percent of career senior executives earned a bonus last year - to the tune of $13,734 on average. Those figures are from Office of Personnel Management statistics on 2004 bonuses. But how do agencies compare to one another?

It pays to be a rocket scientist. NASA gave the highest bonuses on average, with a typical award of $17,483. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was second with bonuses of $16,946. The Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs departments were the only others in the $16,000 range.

Executives at the Housing and Urban Development Department fell at the low end of the scale. Their average bonus was $8,092 - although more than 60 percent of HUD executives received extra cash.

The Interior Department gave only 30 percent of its executives bonuses while the State Department awarded bonuses to almost 33 percent.

Where is the most likely place to pocket something extra? The Small Business Administration. SBA gave all of its executives a bonus in 2004.

The General Services Administration, which awarded 97.3 percent of career executives a bonus, followed SBA.

Here's rundown of average bonuses and the number of executives receiving them, by agency.

Source: Office of Personnel Management

COMMENTS

• You're absolutely right. And, I fell for it. Guess I'm just sick and tired of negative comments directed towards federal employees. Seems as if we're the "whipping boy" for every thing wrong in the government. And as anyone with a grain of intelligence knows, it just isn't so. It's a real shame some folks feel the need to instigate instead of addressing the article in a forthright manner. Having an opinion is everybody’s right. But using it as a weapon is pretty sad for someone who considers them self to be an American. So thanks skeptical. Ya got me to thinking. Art Doss Posted December 29, 2005 1:20 PM
• At first, I was really upset to learn that NASA gave the highest bonuses to their SES level employees, especially given the current re-planning mess at the agency. However, when I think about what an awful job the SES'ers have at NASA, the bonuses are actually well deserved. Given the long work hours, excessive travel requirements and constant changes in goals from outside forces (e.g., the President, Congress, political appointees), many employees are reluctant to apply for even branch level management positions. Okay, now I am upset again, because these work conditions have forced the really good managers to either not take management positions or leave the agency. Kind of reminds me of the campaign process which leaves us with not so good choices from both political parties at election time. GovExec.com reader Posted December 21, 2005 4:03 AM
• Personally, I think the self-labeled SES posting below was just a troll trying to create controversy and hate-imbued replies. Seems to have worked. Skeptical Posted December 19, 2005 10:37 AM