White House releases annual salary data
Top administration officials earn more than $170,000, and full-time staff account for $35 million in spending.
The White House pays out nearly $39 million in salaries to its 470 employees, according to data released on Thursday by the Obama administration.
The administration is required to submit payroll statistics to Congress annually. In 2010, 437 White House full-time employees account for nearly $35 million in salary spending. One part-time staffer earns $21,000, and 31 temporary workers on detail from other agencies earn a combined $3.8 million.
Twenty-four senior officials earn $172,200, the highest salary for full-time personnel. White House senior advisers David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, along with Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Jon Favreau, the president's speechwriter and Carol Browner, director of the Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, are included in the top pay grade. Two detailees, Timothy Love and Michael Hash, each earn $179,700 -- the highest salary among the 470 employees included in the data. Love and Hash both work on health care issues, and their titles are policy director and deputy director, respectively.
Rank-and-file employees such as analysts, staff assistants and schedulers earn between $40,000 and $60,000, while special and deputy assistants to the president and other advisers make lower six-figure salaries. Three staffers earn nothing for their work. On average, White House employees earn nearly $83,000.
In 2009, 488 White House staff earned a combined $39.1 million, and 22 senior officials were in the highest pay category. The average salary was $80,384.
Obama, who earns $400,000 annually, froze the salaries of staff earning more than $100,000 days after taking office in January 2009.