Scott Brown and Federal Pay

Kennedy School professor Linda Bilmes and Partnership for Public Service president Max Stier have an op-ed in the Boston Globe, hitting back at newly-elected Republican Sen. Scott Brown for saying that federal workers make twice what their private-sector counterparts make and calling for a hiring freeze. This set of statistics stood out at me:

Private sector employees include large numbers of minimum wage jobs that do not exist in government. About 20 percent of federal workers have a master's degree, professional degree or doctorate compared to only 13 percent in the private sector. Overall, some 51 percent of federal employees have at least a college degree compared to 35 percent in the private sector....Direct comparisons show professionals in government routinely make far less than their private-sector counterparts, especially at the higher levels within departments and agencies.

I actually would have expected the masters' and bachelors' numbers to be higher. I think it's easy to forget how many blue collar workers the federal government employs. Agencies need janitors, and they need scientists. And we all need a clearer sense of how they're paid relative to their private-sector counterparts.