Uncle Sam shelled out more bonuses in 2009

[The Straight Story]

Uncle Sam shelled out more bonuses in 2009


Federal employees received more merit pay last year than in 2008, but their bonuses still paled in comparison to those doled out on Wall Street, according to new data.

The Obama administration gave one in four government workers extra compensation in fiscal 2009, according to a June 10 story in Federal Times, based on information obtained from the Office of Personnel Management by Asbury Park Press. The New Jersey newspaper annually compiles federal compensation data and makes it available to the public through an online database.

The extra compensation for federal workers, which includes but is not limited to cash, totaled $408 million last year, with an average award of $1,137. The bonuses ranged from $25 to $94,200, with the highest amount going to a top foreign affairs officer at the State Department. Air traffic controllers were among those employees receiving the biggest sums, and more than $11 million went to senior executives in government, with an average individual award of $13,337. By comparison, investment banking firm Goldman Sachs gave out more than $16 billion in bonuses last year with an average individual payout of nearly $500,000.


The data covers 65 percent of the civilian workforce, and excludes employees from several agencies, including the Defense and Treasury departments, as well as the White House.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=45471&oref=todaysnews

[ProgressiveVictory]

1. The government employees should not have gotten raises!

Neither should the employees of institutions that received government money. If they did not take government money, there is nothing we can do about it.

[NutmegYankee]

2. Why not?

The cost of living did not drop, and well performing workers should be rewarded. Government employees don't get the nice bonuses the private sector gets in good markets; they only get a small Cost Of Living increase that normally doesn't make up for the actual increases in health care and so on.

[ProgressiveVictory]

3. so everyone who did a good job and helped their company should get a bonus?

[NutmegYankee]

4. In good times, they get huge ones.

Most government employees get nothing. I see no problem with a performance based system paying for performance. If you're not going to pay, why have the system?


As for the term "bonus" - I'm sure most the the money was in rewards, which are usually less than $1000 and handed out maybe once a year for hard work.