federal govt. pays more than private sector (article)
Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 8:35 pm
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I think the benefits really put the lawyers with the feds over the top. $120,000+ for a 40 hr. work week sounds nice (no billables, etc).cardnal124 wrote:Federal Private Difference
Lawyer $123,660 $126,763 -$3,103
Lawyers are a bit short on cash compensation, though it may be made up by benefits.
Interesting read, although I think paying high wages to employees can either be a good or bad thing for the government.
Ya, that sounds nice. But remember that at that point in a successful private career in BigLaw, you would be 200k+, and you wouldn't ever be capped (right now fed pay is capped at a max of 155k). Not saying one is better than the other, just that its your decision whether to work 80 hour weeks and make 200k-300k or work 40 hour weeks and make 120k.gemma232 wrote:I think the benefits really put the lawyers with the feds over the top. $120,000+ for a 40 hr. work week sounds nice (no billables, etc).cardnal124 wrote:Federal Private Difference
Lawyer $123,660 $126,763 -$3,103
Lawyers are a bit short on cash compensation, though it may be made up by benefits.
Interesting read, although I think paying high wages to employees can either be a good or bad thing for the government.
Exactly. Like G-Town gradsthe pecan sandies wrote:what this article doesn't take into account for law at least (and maybe other fields I know nothing about as well), is that the average federal job is much harder to get than the average private sector job. the result being a more apt comparison for lawyer would be DOJ pay vs. what someone qualified for that job could be making in the private sector. the difference would jump quite a bit then. now, this is comparing people with crappy private jobs who would never be competitive for tough federal agencies.